CHAPTER 10. FONT FAMILIES 104
10.3.1 Serif
Serifsare those spikey things that poke out of
the corners of letters. Originally they were used
as reinforcement to keep the letters from breaking
in the printing press, but they continue to be used.
People are used to seeing it, and it is easy to read.
Serif fonts are commonly used in body text.
Exam Question 181(p.347): What generic font family includes Times?
Required Answer:serif
The most common serif typeface is Times Roman.
Other common examples of serif typefaces include Baskerville, Bookman,
Garamond, Georgia, and Palatino. Also, any font with the word serif in its
name, but not the word sans, is probably a serif font.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samples_of_serif_typefacesshows some
examples.
10.3.2 Sans-serif
Sans-serifmeans without serifs. Sans is from the Latin word (sine) that
means “without.” Sans-serif fonts are commonly used in headings.
Popular wisdom has long held that serif fonts are best for printed work
and sans-serif fonts are best for online work. That is because online work
has long been rendered using a low number of pixels per inch, and serifs
often look bad in that setting. More recently, displays have reached “retina
quality” and the printed experience can be achieved online just fine. You
can ignore those earlier warnings. Serif is wonderful for online work these
days.
Exam Question 182(p.347):What generic font family includes Helvetica?
Required Answer:sans-serif
The most common sans-serif typeface is Helvetica.
Other common examples of sans-serif typefaces include Arial, Geneva, Im-
pact, Lucida Sans, Tahoma, and Verdana. Also, any font with the word
sans in its name is probably a sans-serif font.