Please make Verdana the default font, not Arial

Report · Apr 15, 2009

Adobe Forums admin folks (John C, perhaps?), please have mercy on your users and make Verdana the default for posts, and not frickin' Arial. Verdana was designed for on-screen reading, while Arial was barely designed for reading at all. I'll set this same paragraph again in Verdana below, so you can see the difference. Assuming you can change the default font at all, of course.

That's the same point size in both paragraphs, btw. Isn't that better? Don't you wish this paragraph was in Verdana as well?

Cheers,

T

Report · Apr 15, 2009

Thomas Phinney wrote:
Adobe Forums admin folks (John C, perhaps?), please have mercy on your users and make Verdana the default for posts,

I'm sure Eric or Mark could come up with a script to override Arial and replace it with Verdana during a short coffee break.

Report · Apr 15, 2009

Hahahah, fine I can take a hint!

http://userstyles.org/styles/17023

Report · Apr 15, 2009

Eric @ MCA wrote:
Hahahah, fine I can take a hint!
http://userstyles.org/styles/17023

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!

You're just freakin' awesome, Eric! You have improved the look of the entire forums dramatically.

Report · Apr 15, 2009

The new look is stunning! Thank you once again, Eric.

Report · Apr 15, 2009

Test message It appears it still on Arial (?)

Report · Apr 15, 2009

You have specifically chosen Arial as your font style family in the Font Family drop-down menu.

Message was edited by: Eric @ MCA

Report · Apr 15, 2009

I'm not sure I'm following what your latest script is supposed to do.

I selected Verdana in the Full Editor font list. I type and it remains as Verdana until I click anywhere in the message composition area. It then reverts to Arial

If I hit "Return" it reverts to Arial.

Or is your script just meant to display all body message body text as Verdana as I look at it in the thread?

If so, it's useless for me, because I have Firefox set to display it as Trebuchet.

Report · Apr 15, 2009

Yeah, it just overrides body to be Verdana so if you are already forcing it all to Trebuchet you won't see any difference.

If someone specifically changes to a different font in post editor, I'm not sure what is controlling that. I can still select text and make it Arial using the Font Family drop-down, for example, so I suspect that will be overriden by whatever the editor chooses. Let's test...

Arial test

Helvetica test

Terminal test

Times New Roman test

Trebuchet test

Verdana test

EDIT: Yes, if someone overrides the font, it still overrides my style. Probably because it is a special span within the body text.

Report · Apr 15, 2009

Eric @ MCA wrote:
Yeah, it just overrides body to be Verdana so if you are already forcing it all to Trebuchet you won't see any difference.

That's what I figured. I had already opened up the javascript, because I was going to edit the style to force Trebuchet, but since the script doesn't actually configure the editor's font menu, I decided to remove the script.

Still, you rock, Man, for how far you're climbing above and beyond the call of duty.

Report · Apr 15, 2009

No. When I openned the reply window at first, it showed Font Style and I just started typing. then I clicked on what I typed and it showed Arial, not Verdana.

I can select it, but it defaults to Arial if I just start typing.

I shouldn't have to choose it if its been changed to the default type. And it bounces back to Arial if you click outside the period at end of sentence. As long as you don't, it remains selected.

Report · Apr 15, 2009

For me it doesn't default to Arial automatically inside TinyMCE. But I don't have Arial installed, so maybe that is why.

Report · Apr 15, 2009

PjonesCET wrote:
Test message It appears it still on Arial (?)

The point is that if you have Eric's style installed, you'll see whatever anyone else posts in Verdana, not Arial, and most importantly the site's default font in effect becomes Verdana. Look at the thread index page in my posted screenshot.

It's a veritable godsend.

Report · Apr 16, 2009

Eric @ MCA wrote:
Hahahah, fine I can take a hint!
http://userstyles.org/styles/17023

I have installed all Eric's scripts for Opera, and they all work perfectly.

http://userstyles.org/users/21328

I tried to modify the font script by adding Calibri to the top of the font list, but I got some sizing issues, so I decided to stick to Verdana.

Excellent work!

Report · Apr 15, 2009

[Edit: I am trying to scratch everything I posted. For some reason I'm stuck in this quote box.]

Report · Apr 15, 2009

[Edit: I am trying to scratch everything I posted. For some reason I'm stuck in this quote box.]

switch to html mode when that happens and delete everything from there...

Report · Apr 15, 2009

Please ignore. Just testing the Cyrillic support by Verdana.

Нежно простившись с любимой блондинкой, простой американский патрульный Дэнни Фишер (Джон Сина) выходит вечером на дежурство. Федералы как раз в это время давно и внимательно наблюдают за прогуливающимся

по улицам вором Майлзом Джексоном. Пока наш коп в компании озабоченного напарника объезжает улицы родного города, поступает просьба о поддержке от ФБР. Преследуемый нарушитель спокойствия на глазах у законников проворачивает сложносочиненную комбинацию, кладет всех подельников и на красивой машине с чемоданом бриллиантов и возлюбленной готовится удрать в другой штат, когда на его пути возникают полицейские. Наш невозмутимый герой, невзирая на валяющегося с простреленным задом напарника, арестовывает Джексона, но любимая женщина похитителя в процессе задержания трагически попадает под джип. Арестованный внимательно смотрит на грудь копа. Там написано «Д. Фишер». Спустя год он бежит из тюрьмы и, пробив имя, видимо, по телефонной базе, звонит детективу Фишеру с предложением отметить годовщину знакомства, прихватив для верности любимую девушку полицейского в заложники.

Excellent support!

Report · Apr 16, 2009

Just click below the box.

Report · Apr 15, 2009

I am with Thomas. As he says, Verdana was designed specifically for improved on-screen reading, while Arial is only a fake Helvetica. And Helvetica was designed for improved reading on print, quite a long time before even TV was invented.

Helvetica/Arial are difficult to read on screen, specially at small sizes such as the one used by default here. And they make no noticeable difference between I (uppercase i) and l (lowercase L) as Verdana does: Il.

Report · Apr 15, 2009

Claudio González wrote:
I am with Thomas. As he says, Verdana was designed specifically for improved on-screen reading, while Arial is only a fake Helvetica. And Helvetica was designed for improved reading on print, quite a long time before even TV was invented.
Helvetica/Arial are difficult to read on screen, specially at small sizes such as the one used by default here. And they make no noticeable difference between I (uppercase i) and l (lowercase L) as Verdana does: Il.

Its defficult to read on paper aa well, along with Arial. "My" preference for reading on screen and reading is ITC Benguait.

Report · Apr 15, 2009

PjonesCET wrote:
Its defficult to read on paper aa well, along with Arial.

You do know that Arial is the M$ ripoff of Helvetica, right?

Report · Apr 15, 2009

And while we're talking about the "Full Editor" what the heck causes it to behave so erratically?

The cursor jumps to unexpected places all the time when you try to edit and otherwise manipulate text like anywhere else online or in any offline applications in common use.

Having the dumbed-down formatting tools is all well and good, BUT PLEASE MAKE THEM BLOODY WORK LIKE THEY SHOULD, AND LIKE MOST PEOPLE EXPECT THEM TO WORK!

Report · Apr 15, 2009

It's all a bit half-baked. Maybe a few more weeks in the oven will help.

Report · Apr 15, 2009

Another vote for Verdana!

Report · Apr 16, 2009

As I said earlier, I support the choice of Verdana as a default font wholeheartedly (I am also a typography freak).

But I sometimes wonder at the lengths people will go to, and the discussions that go on, about what in effect is the just the appearance of the forums.

They are a tool for information exchange – not a way of life for godsake!

Do you worry about what colour a spanner is before you will deign to use it?

Report · Apr 16, 2009

Well, first, most of the users of the forums are designers of one sort or another, and are sensitive to appearances. Adobe is supposed to be a design-sensitive company.

But more importantly, the choice of typeface is one of functionality as much as "appearance." It's precisely because the forums are supposed to be a tool for information exchange that I'd like them to be easier to read... for everyone. Sure, I can use the trick mentioned above so *I* will see the forums in Verdana, but that's not really the point.

Cheers,

T