Font suggestions for book?

Fri Aug 16 17:14:43 PDT 2013

The answer is "This is Your decision" really!

However, I can make some personal observations.

I bought this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BFOYW4K/ref=docs-os-doi_0 quite a while back and found it a good read to understand how to make fonts in documents look good. (The title is "Type & Layout: Are You Communicating or Just Making Pretty Shapes".)

Also, I bought "Adobe Type Library Reference Book" some months back: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0321821254/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 just as a reference to see how their fonts would look when printed in books. This book is definitely overkill for most people, of course, but an interesting reference to have!

BTW, quite separately, this is a fun read for interesting stories on fonts - as I recall, someone on this list recommended it: http://www.amazon.com/Just-My-Type-About-ebook/dp/B00BFOYW4K/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1376695562&sr=1-1&keywords=Just+My+TYpe. (The title is "Just My Type".)

Anyway, my advice is to use a Serif font for dense text (books, specifications, etc.) because it is believed to be easier to read (a myth according to some people though): http://blogs.adobe.com/acom/2008/07/to_serif_or_not_to_serif_regar_1.html ... particularly in printed text.  As I recall, that is what prompted the New York Times newspaper to develop the Times font years ago.

A quote from http://www.awaionline.com/2011/10/the-best-fonts-to-use-in-print-online-and-email/:

Best fonts for print

In his book Cashvertising, Drew Eric Whitman cites a 1986 study of fonts (printed on paper) that found only 12 percent of participants effectively comprehended a paragraph set in sans-serif type versus 67 percent who were given a version set in serif typeface.

Those who read the sans-serif version said they had a tough time reading the text and "continually had to backtrack to regain comprehension."

In a test of three different fonts, two serifs (Garamond and Times New Roman) and one sans serif (Helvetica), he found 66 percent were able to comprehend Garamond; 31.5 percent Times New Roman, and 12.5 percent Helvetica (out of a total of 1,010,000 people surveyed).

FWIW, I believe the "Serif Myth" ... after doing my own comparisons. So, I use Palatino Linotype for my text in documents and specifications, particularly because symbols like copyright (c) and trademark (tm) are easier to read in smaller sizes (i.e., under 10pt). Just compare two pages of the same text, one in Palatino Linotype (or Times Roman) and one in Helvetica (or Arial) to understand what I mean by "easier to read denser Serif text" when looking at a full page of words in a book or document or manual.

Now, for on-screen readability, people believe that a Sans Serif font is best. That may well be true ... I just have not done any "how does it look" testing for myself yet.

When I need a fixed-width font (code, scripts, certain numbers, etc.), I use "Consolas" since it looks very, very good on-screen and in print (unlike Courier and its variants).

With text that is stretched vertically, or squeezed horizontally, at all - for example, for a banner or section/chapter heading - a Sans Serif font is better, IMHO. I used to use "Arial", but switched a while back to "Helvetica" based on comments from people on this list. I compared the two fonts, and Helvetica is clearly better looking with rounded character structures (look at the letter "e", for example).

And, finally, for presentations, I now find Adobe Myriad Pro Light to be very clean and light, so I am using it more and more of late.

Summary ... for me (YMMV):

1.      Dense text inside the books and documents: Palatino Linotype.

2.      Chapter/section header, banners: Helvetica.

3.      Fixed-width content: Consolas.

4.      Presentations: Adobe Myriad Pro Light.

Regards,

Z

From: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com [mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of VLM TechSubs
Sent: Friday, August 16, 2013 8:43 AM
To: Framers
Subject: OT: Font suggestions for book?

Hi everyone,

I'm not sure whether this post went through, so I'm trying again.

In the past, I've worked on writing, editing, and functional template design, but in general I've left "pretty stuff" such as font selection to others. So I really don't know what fonts might be most readable, or most popular, or how to pair a body and a heading font, or the like. Of course, much is written all over the Internet, but I thought that here, there would be people with specific experience writing and publishing books. So that is why I have directed this inquiry here. I hope it's okay. :)

Thanks,
Elchanan
From: VLM TechSubs [mailto:TechSubs at VibrantLivingMinistries.org]
Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2013 3:22 PM
To: Framers; Free Framers
Subject: OT: Font suggestions for book?

Greetings everyone,

I'm working in FM 8, Win 7 x64 on a book that will be published this Fall. I've now been asked to do the book design, in addition to most of the writing and basic template design. The subject matter is primarily financial ... it's a book about the history of taxation. It's not a scholarly work at all, but rather one designed to "wake up" American teens and young adults to some of the issues involved. Footnotes are used here and there, but more for explanation of background/details than in a traditional sense as references. The book will be published in a standard 6x9 format, paperback.

All that having been said ... What are people's favorite or recommended fonts for such a project. And since this is being published on a shoestring budget with a nonprofit/educational bent, suggestions of free fonts would be most welcome.

Well, thanks in advance!

Best regards,
Elchanan
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.frameusers.com/pipermail/framers-frameusers.com/attachments/20130816/624d470e/attachment.htm>