100 lines
5.3 KiB
Markdown
100 lines
5.3 KiB
Markdown
---
|
||
title: "New fonts & site changes"
|
||
description: "New fonts, more interesting typography, "
|
||
author: Amolith
|
||
cover: /assets/pngs/editor.png
|
||
date: 2020-07-19T01:43:11-04:00
|
||
categories:
|
||
- Meta
|
||
tags:
|
||
- Fonts
|
||
- Typography
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
I just got a couple of new (and rather expensive) fonts. So far, I'm
|
||
incredibly happy with them and think it was money well-spent for a few
|
||
reasons. Created by [Matthew
|
||
Butterick,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Butterick)
|
||
[Valkyrie](https://mbtype.com/fonts/valkyrie/) and
|
||
[Concourse](https://mbtype.com/fonts/concourse/) are simply beautiful. I
|
||
don't know which I like more but they both have their places on this
|
||
website and will find their way onto others in the future. Because
|
||
Concourse is a [sans-serif,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sans-serif)
|
||
it will be the default used all across Secluded.Site. Valkyrie is a
|
||
[serif font](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serif) and, though the type
|
||
seems to be losing its place on the web, I think it adds a lot when
|
||
reading content that's focused on a narrative rather than simply being
|
||
informative. Because of that, it will be used for my posts about [pipe
|
||
smoking](/categories/pipe-smoking/) and [Dungeons &
|
||
Dragons.](/categories/dungeons-dragons/) I might come up with other
|
||
categories where Valkyrie fits as well but it will likely remain limited
|
||
to those two.
|
||
|
||
In addition to simply changing the fonts, I've also modified some styles
|
||
on the site. Headers (such as the title of this post) are now in proper
|
||
small caps[^1] and I did some work to improve font size relative to the
|
||
content width. Previously, the text was smaller than I would have liked
|
||
which meant longer lines; there are some studies[^2] indicating that
|
||
lines with a lower character count, while decreasing reading speed,[^3]
|
||
are generally more comfortable and hold the reader's attention more
|
||
effectively. The width hasn't changed but the size has increased and
|
||
thus decreased the number of characters per line.
|
||
|
||
One of the reasons I decided to buy the fonts was simply that I love the
|
||
way they look and they have a lot of
|
||
[features](https://mbtype.com/fonts/concourse/features.html) I wanted.
|
||
In addition to that, however, I also wanted to support Matthew. His
|
||
book, *[Practical Typography](https://practicaltypography.com/)* is an
|
||
amazing resource for anyone that does anything with text. He has put a
|
||
massive amount of work into it and simply [asks readers to
|
||
pay.](https://practicaltypography.com/why-you-should-pay.html) There is
|
||
no pay*wall* and no ads either; it's completely supported by readers.
|
||
There are a few [ways to
|
||
contribute](https://practicaltypography.com/how-to-pay-for-this-book.html)
|
||
and one of them is buying his fonts. Interestingly enough, if you read
|
||
his [first,](https://practicaltypography.com/economics-year-one.html)
|
||
[second,](https://practicaltypography.com/effluents-influence-affluence.html)
|
||
and [third](https://practicaltypography.com/to-pay-or-not-to-pay.html)
|
||
year summaries, more people bought his fonts for a higher price than
|
||
simply paid him directly:
|
||
|
||
> What’s most interesting to me, however, is that so many more readers
|
||
> were willing to buy a font license (at $59–299) than to make a direct
|
||
> payment (at $5–10). Don’t get me wrong—I’m utterly grateful. But it’s
|
||
> counterintuitive: I never expected that the cheaper option would be so
|
||
> much less popular. Economists, I invite your explanations.
|
||
>
|
||
> — *[The Economics of a Web-based Book: Year
|
||
> One](https://practicaltypography.com/economics-year-one.html)*
|
||
|
||
I won't speculate as to why but it is thought-provoking. Regardless, his
|
||
approach is very similar to that of any developer who creates open
|
||
source software. They pour their time and energy into projects they
|
||
might get no compensation for and rely on the community to fund their
|
||
efforts. I have a *great* deal of respect for these people and try to
|
||
support them whenever I'm able. $200 is a small price for two incredible
|
||
fonts in addition to *Practical Typography*!
|
||
|
||
[^1]: Small caps are a font style where the letters that would otherwise
|
||
be lower case are a shorter version of the upper case form. Many
|
||
people simulate small caps by reducing the font size of regular
|
||
capital letters to that of lower case characters but the results are
|
||
too tall and their vertical lines too thin; they've only been scaled
|
||
down. *Proper* small caps are an additional set of letters added to
|
||
a font file as [OpenType
|
||
features.](https://practicaltypography.com/opentype-features.html)
|
||
For a comparison, see the related page on *[Practical
|
||
Typography.](https://practicaltypography.com/small-caps.html)*
|
||
[^2]: I took mental note when reading an article about it but have since
|
||
forgotten what it was and can't find it again. There are, however,
|
||
various other sources, such as *[The Elements of Typographic Style
|
||
Applied to the Web](http://webtypography.net/2.1.2)* and
|
||
*[Readability: the Optimal Line
|
||
Length.](https://baymard.com/blog/line-length-readability)*
|
||
[^3]: A [rather short
|
||
study](https://web.archive.org/web/20170918212943/http://psychology.wichita.edu/surl/usabilitynews/72/LineLength.asp)
|
||
from Wichita State University found that increased line length
|
||
resulted in greater reading efficiency. However, there were no
|
||
significant effects on comprehension and the preference for longer
|
||
or shorter lines was fairly evenly distributed.
|