Re: GNOME comp

[Michael Bernstein <webmaven lvcm com>]

digitect mindspring com wrote:
> 
> > I usually use <font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica,
> > sans-serif">
> 
> Yikes! Double-dog-ditto my previous comments on Arial for Verdana (proprietary (perhaps even MS), non-standard to most Linux distributions).

While it is true that Verdana is an MS product, it is free
(though not Free). It has the advantage of being one of the
few high-quality typefaces specifically designed for screen
resolutions (which increases legibility). Specifying it in
this way IN NO WAY introduces a dependency on the typeface.
It will simply be used preferentially if available. Anyone
who has gone to the trouble of adding it to THEIR SYSTEM
will appreciate the attention to detail, and those who have
not will not have their experience degraded in any way.

I would however draw the line at stating on the site "This
site best viewed using MS Verdana" ;-) That would be wrong
:-)

Michael Bernstein.

P.S. The Gnome Foundation could commission a professional
type designer (probably for about 30k or so) to design Free
high-quality Serif and Sans-Serif typefaces, but this isn't
something that will happen soon. I think Mathew Carter
(Verdana's designer) spent a year designing Verdana for
Microsoft.

As a candidate designer, Zusana Licko comes to mind:
http://www.emigre.com/bios/zlicko.html