On Wed, 29 Mar 2000, Jeff Wiggin wrote:
> the conventional wisdom has been that serif fonts are easier to read
> in print media, while sans-serifs are generally easier for onscreen
> reading, but -- if true -- i think the difference is so minor as to be
> negligible, really.

What's the matter with "Edit->Preferences->Appearance->Fonts", whatever
the equivalent is with IE, or, for those of you using real operating
systems and browsers, the appropriate entry in ~/.Xresources?

Why do drooling mouthbreathers masquerading as designers think that they
can choose a font (or size, for that matter) that's more readable for me
than the one I've chosen?[1]

The only reason I can come up with is that they're designing for people
even more stupid and incompetent than I can possibly imagine, but, much
like yuppies who buy equipment that gets them into high adventure sports
at a much higher level than they can possibly participate safely, aren't
we actually harming these people in the long run?

Stop being an enabler! Insist that your users know how to use dialog
boxes! Otherwise they're just going to end up using computers more, and
you know that's only going to hurt us *all*.

Unless, of course, you run an e-commerce site, then you just want 'em
smart enough to be able to type in the number from their credit card, and
hopefully no smarter.

Thus endeth today's rant. Well, one of 'em, at least.

Dan... "... because nature isn't harsh enough."

[1] Yes, I realize that I'm saying this about a business partner too,
foolish consistencies and all that.