I’m a fan of serif fonts, so I’m a little sad about that change, and a little confused why posts and comments are in a different visual style. I’m definitely no expert on stuff like this, but I’m curious if there’s a motivation for that difference.
edit: oh, and it’s even different between section headings and post paragraphs, that seems weird to me too, but maybe it’s more common than I realized
I find the font to be less readable and somewhat clunky. Can’t quite express why it feels that way. It reminds me of display scaling issues, where your display resolution doesn’t match the native resolution.
As a quick clarification: none of the fonts in question were actually changed from serif to sans-serif. See here for how the Forum used to look.
(There are some changes from serif to sans-serif, such as in the post list items. But my read of your comment is referring to comments and section headings, which were always that way.)
(Agnes mentions this below, but I thought I’d call it out here.)
You can set your browser to not let websites choose their own fonts, and to use your settings instead[1].
Not only do you get your own font preferences but it is quicker (no more requests off to Google Fonts or other places to download custom fonts) and more private (no more sending personal info to Google Fonts who get which has caused publishers to be fined from time to time for not being GDPR-compliant)
Google Fonts who get fined from time to time for not being GDPR-compliant
I don’t believe Google Fonts has been fined for GDPR violations? Are you think thinking about European publishers being fined for using Google Fonts, because this meant sending user IP addresses to an American company?
Yeah I like most of the UI changes but not a big fan of the sans serif font. Indeed weird that the use isn’t consistent either. (ETA: don’t agree with this sentence anymore). If people are divided on this, perhaps have a setting to bring it back so people can choose?
Thanks for letting us know! Choice of typeface is no doubt a subjective thing and some will prefer the old font. In terms of inconsistency–one of the most popular principles for typeface combinations is the one I’ve gone with here–pairing a sans serif header with a serif body. This combination can be found online on places like Medium and Substack, and was already the case inside of Forum posts before this change. Typefaces are often even created in pairs of serif and sans serif that are meant to be paired this way.
This is obviously not a hard rule and you may still prefer other combinations (it’s not uncommon to use all sans serif on web, or all serif if it’s a magazine), and I’m definitely open to trying different things to improve legibility and tweak the “personality” of the Forum through typefaces (but it’s not something I expect to prioritize changing right now)
I think you’re right (I don’t mind the serif titles within the blog posts, nor do I mind the sans serif use on substack and medium). I am likely just too attached to the previous look, the most important opinion is that of new users :) Thank you for the work you’ve done!
I’m a fan of serif fonts, so I’m a little sad about that change, and a little confused why posts and comments are in a different visual style. I’m definitely no expert on stuff like this, but I’m curious if there’s a motivation for that difference.
edit: oh, and it’s even different between section headings and post paragraphs, that seems weird to me too, but maybe it’s more common than I realized
I find the font to be less readable and somewhat clunky.
Can’t quite express why it feels that way. It reminds me of display scaling issues, where your display resolution doesn’t match the native resolution.
Now that you mention it, I feel a bit the same. It might be that we just need to get used to it, but maybe it’s the
font-weight
?Is the second one better? I just changed font-weight from 450 to 400
I find the second one more readable.
Might be due to my display: If I zoom into the two versions, the second version separates letters better.
But you’re also right, that we’ll get used to most changes :)
As a quick clarification: none of the fonts in question were actually changed from serif to sans-serif. See here for how the Forum used to look.
(There are some changes from serif to sans-serif, such as in the post list items. But my read of your comment is referring to comments and section headings, which were always that way.)
(Agnes mentions this below, but I thought I’d call it out here.)
You can set your browser to not let websites choose their own fonts, and to use your settings instead[1].
Not only do you get your own font preferences but it is quicker (no more requests off to Google Fonts or other places to download custom fonts) and more private (no more sending personal info to Google Fonts
who getwhich has caused publishers to be fined from time to time for not being GDPR-compliant)In Firefox, go to about:config in a new tab, then set
browser.display.use_document_fonts
to0
.I don’t believe Google Fonts has been fined for GDPR violations? Are you think thinking about European publishers being fined for using Google Fonts, because this meant sending user IP addresses to an American company?
Oop yes you are correct, I wrote that in haste, let me make an edit
Yeah I like most of the UI changes but not a big fan of the sans serif font.
Indeed weird that the use isn’t consistent either.(ETA: don’t agree with this sentence anymore). If people are divided on this, perhaps have a setting to bring it back so people can choose?Thanks for letting us know! Choice of typeface is no doubt a subjective thing and some will prefer the old font. In terms of inconsistency–one of the most popular principles for typeface combinations is the one I’ve gone with here–pairing a sans serif header with a serif body. This combination can be found online on places like Medium and Substack, and was already the case inside of Forum posts before this change. Typefaces are often even created in pairs of serif and sans serif that are meant to be paired this way.
This is obviously not a hard rule and you may still prefer other combinations (it’s not uncommon to use all sans serif on web, or all serif if it’s a magazine), and I’m definitely open to trying different things to improve legibility and tweak the “personality” of the Forum through typefaces (but it’s not something I expect to prioritize changing right now)
I think you’re right (I don’t mind the serif titles within the blog posts, nor do I mind the sans serif use on substack and medium). I am likely just too attached to the previous look, the most important opinion is that of new users :) Thank you for the work you’ve done!