New font is terrible

I do have Clear Type turned on in IE8 and have optimized it for my monitor by using "Clear Type Text Tuner".

That did improve my Clear Type display a bit.

But it did nothing for the CNET font used in their drop down Menus.

That typeface looks like it came from a 1950's typewriter that needs a new ink ribbon.

Very retro, somewhat ugly.

I will look forward to improvements.

Joe Randolph
Snapshot2

Or possibly even a screenshot.

I'd appreciate it.

And thanks for the feedback!

-Lee

Here is a Print Screen of the drop-down menu after clicking "Reviews".

This same type font/typeface can be found in other drop-down menus.

I have an old manual Royal typewriter that prints like that.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v159/randol9p9/PrintScreen1440x900.jpg

Joe Randolph
Snapshot2

Here's a screen print of the same pull down menu with me. Using Firefox;

http://imageshack.us/f/13/fontng.jpg/

You might have to enlarge it.

Just supplying it for comparison, but you can see mine is much clearer and more solid. I don't know why there are differences on stock systems and stock browser settings.

Mark

Loose_Screw and I (and others) are seeing the same problem.
He is frustrated because no one believes him.
I DO believe him.

Why it only shows up on some computers, I don't know.

It is related to the new CNET choice of fonts because it only shows up on CNET.

The engineers could change the font to something else and let us see what happens.
Maybe that would give them a clue as to the cause.
I am willing to help if I can.

Joe Randolph
Snapshot2

That's all I can say. Hopefully for the better for everyone...

Stay tuned.

Thanks!
-Lee

From the css-file and from looking at it, it seems the "Museo Slab" font. http://new.myfonts.com/fonts/exljbris/museo-slab/ says it's designed in 2009. So I don't think your typewriter had that.

It says about itself: "Museo Slab is robust slab serif with Museo's friendliness". And it has a rating of 4.5/5.

Kees

I would agree about the fonts. You really should stick to browser compliant fonts and tell your print designers to chill on using the swanky yet troublesome scripts that allow you to render any font via a browser. (typeface.js etc). Alos in some areas the damn font is just way too big on the headers.

has become a bit pale and pastel while the headline bar...or whatever it's called...has become bright and bold. While the blue text is readable to me, I wouldn't mind if was a bit bolder or deeper hued.

If fonts are defined in global CSS files it should be possible to change the font relatively easily to something more common.

It was mentioned above that one of the fonts is Museo Slab. I've never heard of that and don't see it in my Fonts folder in my Win 7 Control Panel. I doubt my older XP system has it either.

If that's right then I can see that using non-standard fonts can cause problems because if the OS doesn't have it installed then the OS chooses something else. It's always a risk when designing web pages to choose a font that all visitors have installed. Otherwise such problems as these can result.

Mark

That sounds plausible.

It should be easy to determine if it is indeed the cause.

Joe Randolph
Snapshot2

Confirmed

I just downloaded a font called

museo slab 500

(that particular one is free)

Installed it and now that same dropdown menu looks like this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v159/randol9p9/Image1440x900.jpg

CNET is using a non-standard font

Joe Randolph
Snapshot2

That looks better doesn't it Joe, but that's a great test you did and it certainly shows this is a non-standard font for many.

Hope you don't mind but I've reported you as offensive!

Simply to alert Lee to what you found.

Mark

CNET David Katzmaier and other CNET editors post their settings in this forum:
http://forums.cnet.com/hdtv-picture-settings-forum/

Hope this helps.
-Lee

Or doesn't it count?

Lee, in case you forgot what my feedback consisted of ........

I LOVE the new font.

I don't care if it's made larger (or even smaller), as long it stays.

In case the "appropriate CNET team" is short of help, I'm volunteering my services.

Carol

I wish there was a setting to choose the font based on our profile. Then it's a win-win for everyone.

Especially yours. Seriously, good or bad it all going to the team.

So thanks for all your feedback.

-Lee