Ask HN: What is your favorite web font for long texts?

Posted by cryptos on Thursday June 11, 2015 @04:02AM
from the ask-hn dept.

We, as the Hacker News crowd, are reading blog posts, magazine articles and the like every day. And maybe you find some web fonts more readable or more pleasant than others.

So what are your favorite web fonts for long texts?

( 12 comments | 7 points | on HN )

Re:Ask HN: What is your favorite web font for long texts? by lomnakkus on Friday June 12, 2015 @03:21AM (#9704468)

Whatever the browser's default proportional font is. Then the user can choose what works for them and not what you happen to like. (A lot of what makes a font "good" is very subjective.)

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: What is your favorite web font for long texts? by glaberficken on Friday June 12, 2015 @08:45AM (#9705477)

I find Georgia to be very readable.

My advice (as an amateur =):

- always apply a generous line height

- do dark-grey (#333) on white (instead of the standard black on white, which is a bit too much contrast for my taste)

like this: https://jsfiddle.net/ot6oeakp/

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: What is your favorite web font for long texts? by atmosx on Saturday June 13, 2015 @09:24AM (#9710928)

That's a really nice combination, but for some reason I don't like it on my blog. Maybe the background is a bit too much 'white', while in your fiddle is gray which makes the font looks even more awesome. Ty for sharing.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: What is your favorite web font for long texts? by glaberficken on Saturday June 13, 2015 @06:19PM (#9712922)

yeah, I mean Georgia and geek topics do not "marry" that well imho =)

I checked out your blog btw and I have to say that I loved this post:

http://www.convalesco.org/articles/2014/04/22/please-dont-ch...

couldnt agree more

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: What is your favorite web font for long texts? by atmosx on Monday June 15, 2015 @03:59PM (#9721648)

Oh thanks a lot! :-)

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: What is your favorite web font for long texts? by J_Darnley on Friday June 12, 2015 @07:33AM (#9705203)

Whatever I have sans-serif set to in my browser. I just checked and it is Arial. I don't mind what you use as long as it renders correctly which most explicit choices seem to fail to do so.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: What is your favorite web font for long texts? by johnloeber on Thursday June 11, 2015 @05:06AM (#9698537)

I'd be really curious to get some responses. The appropriateness of web fonts is a difficult topic I've been wondering about for a long time.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: What is your favorite web font for long texts? by guilhermeasg on Thursday June 11, 2015 @12:34PM (#9700688)

Cardo looks great with a nice line-height. It's the font Leo Babauta uses for his blog Zen Habits.

https://www.google.com/fonts/specimen/Cardo

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: What is your favorite web font for long texts? by romanovcode on Thursday June 11, 2015 @06:44AM (#9698817)

It's Lora for me. http://typecast.com/preview/google/Lora

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: What is your favorite web font for long texts? by cryptos on Tuesday June 16, 2015 @07:09AM (#9724965)

To answer my own question: I like Noto Serif, Lora, PT Serif, and Habibi very much.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: What is your favorite web font for long texts? by dorfuss on Thursday June 11, 2015 @04:30PM (#9702177)

I make it simple, black on white: font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; line-height: 1.3em; font-size: 13px;

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: What is your favorite web font for long texts? by maouida on Thursday June 11, 2015 @08:33AM (#9699250)

Open Sans and Segoe UI

[ Parent | on HN ]