US State Department Bans Courier Font

[Ed Hansberry]

<a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1034726.htm">http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1034726.htm</a><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/hansberry/2004/20040207-courierfont.gif" />

[Swordsman74]

Of course! 8O How could we as decent human beings have gone this long using Courier New 12 and not blown ourselves up??? It's been scientifically proven (by a government-contracted study) that Courier New 12 causes headaches, bleeding ulcers, impotence, and an allergic reaction when exposed in conjunction with Michael Bolton music. This is not the case for Times New Roman 14!! We expect that by changing to Times New Roman 14, we will end world hunger, bring peace to the Middle East, and find out once and for all what happened at Roswell.

Seriously, with all the paperwork that gets put out by the State Department, I wonder how this will affect their ordering of office supplies. Going from a 12 to a 14 point font should mean lots more paper and ink and binders and such....

[Jorgen]

>Going from a 12 to a 14 point font should mean lots more paper and ink and binders and such....

Nope, Times Roman 14 uses much less paper and ink than Courier 12. Try it in MS Word.

Jorgen

[dean_shan]

I think that this is a good thing. Courier is realy ugly. Times New Roman is the best. I use that for all my school papers.

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

Obsolete and unacceptable?

It's one thing if they just announce that they're changing their standard font, but using such words for something so incredibly trivial makes me once again wonder what exactly my tax dollars are going towards.

BTW, Courier is still king when fixed width fonts are needed.

[delfuhd]

BTW, Courier is still king when fixed width fonts are needed.

I agree. When I write guitar tab ont eh computer it requires equal width with fonts. So if the U.S. gov ever tries to write some guitar tab with TNR 14, they're in deep trouble!

[xboxlord]

EEWWWW!

I hate Times New Roman so much that I deleted it from my Fonts Folder. Call me crazy but I really don't like it. I find it to be over used and am just think of it. I also did that with Comic Sans MS...lol.

I prefer to use anicer font such as Verdana, Tw Cen MT, or Trebuchet MS. Those are nice rounded fonts.

I am happy they banned Courier. Ew.

[Kevin C. Tofel]

This must be an election year issue.....let's see how long it takes before the Dems or Repub's figure out the cost savings to the US Budget due to less paper and ink......who will take credit for the savings first is the REAL question.... :wink:

KCT

[Mbai2]

I remember the good times I used to have with this time-tested font. Whenever I had to write a paper for school and it just wasn't quite long enough, all I had to do was change the font to courier and my paper was instanstly 25% longer. Less writing, more time for having fun :lol:

[bjornkeizers]

Forget about TNR or Courier - Arial Narrow is all I use. I like my fonts tight and sharp. Agency FB is quite nice too though...

[huangzhinong]

Your title " Courier front" is a mistake or a joke?

thanks

[Kati Compton]

For those of you familiar with the Seattle-based TV Comedy "Almost Live!", I am currently imagining a circle of long-haired metal dudes, headbanging in unison and chanting "LAME! LAME! LAME! LAME!"

"That REEKS of lameness!"

[Kati Compton]

Your title " Courier front" is a mistake or a joke?

Fixed.

[mrkablooey]

I'm going to send in extra money for my taxes this year. Seems they worked really hard to get that passed.

[Robert Levy]

BTW, Courier is still king when fixed width fonts are needed.

No way man... it's Lucida Console all the way!

[Dave Beauvais]

... BTW, Courier is still king when fixed width fonts are needed.
I'd like to suggest a freeware font called "Anonymous (http://www.ms-studio.com/FontSales/anonymous.html)&trade;" for all your fixed-width typeface needs. :) There are Windows and Mac OS X versions available. I use this almost everywhere fixed-width fonts are needed except for terminal and command prompt windows which occasionally require the line drawing characters from the ugly "Terminal" font.

[Kati Compton]

The argumentative political posts have been moved to HOF&S. Discussing particular presidents can make it difficult to keep a thread civil, and is off-topic to this particular thread anyway, which is more about the general government.

[szamot]

Ok, this whole thing reminds me of American Psycho and their obsession with business cards, this is so funny it’s grotesque. I prefer Book Antiqua or Trebuchet MS, and sometimes Verdana

[c38b2]

I like Tahoma.

[ctmagnus]

I prefer Wingdings 2. That keeps everything nice and cryptic. ;)

[Jonathon Watkins]

You just can't beat Palatino!

[Cypher]

One of the fascinating side-stories to this is the fact that Courier was essentially invented to look like it came off of a typewriter. (For those of you who don't know what a typewriter is, ask your grandparents :)) There was a time when some Dot Matrix printers (same thing about asking your grandparents, eh.) were thought by various elite groups (college profs, diplomats, etc.) to be inappropriate for serious work. Courier was created to make it look like you pulled the document off the typewriter (after pulling your hair out following the third typo on the last word of a page).

Fortunately, even most so-called third-world countries have bought at least one ink jet or laser printer and know the trick. So, say goodbye to the ugly, looks-like-a-typewriter font.

[Tom W.M.]

Oh God NO! Not Times New Roman!

I've hated Times New Roman for years, and I find even Courier New preferable. For all schoolwork I use Georgia, because it is pleasing to the eye for a serif font, and it doesn't have the bits of Times New Roman that I absolutely despise. Onscreen I prefer Trebuchet MS or Tw Cen MT. Decorative fonts I like include Blue Highway (http://www.larabiefonts.com/fonts/b2.html), Vahika (http://www.larabiefonts.com/fonts/v.html), Credit River (http://www.larabiefonts.com/fonts/c2.html) and Credit Valley (http://www.larabiefonts.com/fonts/c2.html), all by freeware Ray Larabie (http://www.larabiefonts.com/). Cretino (http://www.larabiefonts.com/fonts/c2.html), by the same, is excellent for drop caps.

[Kati Compton]

They probably figured it'd be easiest to pick the "default" font. That's 2 seconds per document that they save by people not having to change which font is being used... ;)

[x999x]

Hint: CSS

[johncruise]

BTW, Courier is still king when fixed width fonts are needed.

I like Lucida Console more in terms of fixed width fonts (been using it since.. uhmmm... 1995). Fixed width fonts are crucial part of my life when it comes to programming.

[beq]

Hey that Anonymous suggested by the PPCT staff looks good thanks. Like others I'd sometimes used Lucida Console for text editor code edits...

Also thanks for the Larabie link!

[sualeh]

Has April come early this year in Austrailia? How is it that I cannot find this story on any other news site?

[element]

BTW, Courier is still king when fixed width fonts are needed.

No way man... it's Lucida Console all the way!

Lucida Console is all I use for my development. It's one of the best looking fixed width out there.

Now for presentation in documents, Arial is clean and easy on the eyes.

[Terry]

Has April come early this year in Austrailia? How is it that I cannot find this story on any other news site?

...ditto...I think our leg is being pulled.

BTW, this ABC is the "Australian Broadcasting Corporation."