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Font Fights
Posted by Michael Klassen on November 12, 2007 in Zeitgeist
What do you know about the fonts you use? I confess knowing very little, and I'm sometimes surprised how passionate people are about the type styles we use.
This summer I stumbled upon a documentary about the Helvetica font. Yes, a full-length documentary, with dozens of interview subjects about the world's most famous (?) serif-free font.
Then there is the Ban Comic Sans movement. My wife used Comic Sans as her default font in Outlook, so she nearly fell over laughing when I showed her this website.
One of the challenges of web design is choosing from the very limited selection of fonts you have available. Because of the small selection of TrueType fonts installed on older (Windows and Macintosh) computers, you do not see a wide range of type faces on websites.
But have you ever wondered who owns the fonts you use? Not me.
The most widely used fonts in web pages and documents are Times New Roman, Arial, Verdana, and to a lesser extent Courier and Trebuchet MS. Each font has its own unique story, and in each case they are copyrighted, trademarked and patented.
Times New Roman and Arial are property of the Monotype Corporation. Courier is property of Apple Computer. Verdana is trademarked product of Microsoft.
You get the picture. Something we take for granted like the fonts in our documents have complex histories, legal owners, and terms of use probably only a lawyer could understand.
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