Click to See Complete Forum and Search --> : Verdana vs. Arial - Let's get ready to rumble!
Patrick Shannon
03-15-2007, 08:19 PM
When designing for usability and good design on WEBSITES, which font do you all agree is better at 14px? (And only 14px, whether you feel it should be bigger/smaller or not.) Kind of a big debate going on with design standards over here and want to get the bigger opinion.
Personally, I like 15px Arial over 14px Verdana (the extra pixel on Arial to closer match Verdana's hunking size)....I just think Verdana looks like ass and harder to read at larger sizes.
But am I wrong?
hewligan
03-15-2007, 08:22 PM
I'd go for Verdana, but that's mostly because I really hate Arial.
budafist
03-15-2007, 08:41 PM
Here is just a sample of some text in Arial at size 2.
Here is just a sample of some text in Verdana at size 2.
Here is just a sample of some text in Arial at size 3.
Here is just a sample of some text in Verdana at size 3.
Here is just a sample of some text in Arial at size 4.
Here is just a sample of some text in Verdana at size 4.
budafist
03-15-2007, 08:43 PM
It seems that Verdana has more kerning. I think this makes it easier to read at smaller sizes. 1 more vote Verdana.
Why does Arial go bold at size 4?
hewligan
03-15-2007, 08:57 PM
Verdana was specifically designed for on-screen reading.
Arial was designed to avoid paying license fees on Helvetica. (http://www.ms-studio.com/articles.html)
I'm sure there is a time and a place for Arial, but most days I'm hard-pressed to see what it is :p
mac.FINN
03-15-2007, 09:03 PM
Arial bad!
T-shirt good!
urstwile
03-15-2007, 09:06 PM
I vote for Verdana as well.
Patrick Shannon
03-15-2007, 09:11 PM
Hmm...interesting. I totally cannot see it, Verdana just has a ugly, blocky look to the font (although I guess everyone is using font smoothing so that's moot). I love Verdana at smaller sizes around 8-10 (Arial sucks at that), however.
Although frankly, if I had my choice, I'd use neither font ;)
Arial bad!
T-shirt good!
T-shirt good? That was random!! :D
hewligan
03-15-2007, 11:15 PM
And what about if the T-shirt had writing on it that was in Arial? What then?
Patrick Shannon
03-16-2007, 01:52 AM
O RLY? What if that T-shirt had a logo of a T-shirt with Arial on it?
Hmm...interesting. I totally cannot see it, Verdana just has a ugly, blocky look to the font (although I guess everyone is using font smoothing so that's moot). I love Verdana at smaller sizes around 8-10 (Arial sucks at that), however.
Although frankly, if I had my choice, I'd use neither font ;)
I am with you. I hate verdana at big sizes, hate. At 11px it's perfect and I use it 99% of the time for body copy. For display I will choose something else. Arial is not my favorite, though.
It seems that Verdana has more kerning. I think this makes it easier to read at smaller sizes. 1 more vote Verdana.
The question was 14pt though, I don't consider that small.
hewligan
03-16-2007, 02:27 AM
The question was 14pt though, I don't consider that small.
Actuually the question said 14px...
how ironic, actuually. :p
hewligan
03-16-2007, 02:47 AM
Dammit! All these spoons around, and all I needed was a knife.
Patrick Shannon
03-16-2007, 05:03 AM
Actuually the question said 14px...
Yeah, that's important. I think some answers here are thinking of Verdana vs. Arial in absolute, and not at a certain size.
hewligan
03-16-2007, 10:22 AM
Well it might be.
As I pointed out, Verdana is specifically designed for on-screen reading. Now, Arial, on the other hand, really was just designed as a cheap alternative to Helvetica. Honestly, it's just not a very good font.
chris_bcn
03-16-2007, 04:41 PM
It;'s not a great font no - but for headlines (i.e. larger font sizes) Arial wins out.
Remember, us in the web land have no other, across the board options in a sans-serif. Tahoma, trebuchet MS, Lucida Sans are nice, but you can't be sure that the end user has them
Seapony
03-18-2007, 04:56 AM
Well it might be.
As I pointed out, Verdana is specifically designed for on-screen reading. Now, Arial, on the other hand, really was just designed as a cheap alternative to Helvetica. Honestly, it's just not a very good font.
Actually to be more specific, it wasn't a cheap alternative to Helvetica, it was a PC knockoff of Helvetica. With it's widespread use (thank the internet, children) they eventually just created a universal version of it. That's why it's a better headline font, because of that from which it was cloned from.
But as Blaine and Antoine used to say:
http://www.duhmag.com/LAVENDERMAFIA.jpg
HATED it!
:D
SurfPark
03-18-2007, 11:07 AM
The only reason these two have become the defacto standards in web design is becuse they were the few that came standard in Windows OS computers. Arial is much better at headlines, while Verdana is better at body copy.