New bundled Windows fonts

[francis]

Microsoft have just announced six new fonts (http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=47&aid=78683) that will be bundled with Windows from 2006. For some reason they all begin with the letter C. Some aren't bad at all, but until everyone is using, I guess, Longhorn and Apple bundle them, then we'll all still be using Arial or Verdana.

[David]

This is good news. Even better that these are good (well designed) typefaces (mostly). I particularly like Calibri - shame we can't see it in action as body text but my guess is that it will become a firm favourite with web designers. Looks good in italic too. Second favourite is Constantia (read Century Schoolbook). A really good serifed font that should provide a refreshing alternative to Times Roman (Georgia just doesn't do it for me).

There's nothing really new with these typefaces, they are mainly variants on classic designs but with luck they will have been designed in such a way as to look good at smaller point sizes.

I agree with the reviewer that Candara is a complete mess - why bother including it when Calibri is so good and Corbel offers a more "open" alternative? Surely some sort of slab serif font would have been more useful or even a gothic.

[francis]

Yep, Calibiri is my favourite - a touch off the Tebuchet MS about it, with a typewriter effect on the g, no? Consolas looks remarkably similar to Monaco which the Mac tends to use in its coding environments.

And, yes, Candara isn't so great - there's a slight whiff of Comic Sans about it.

[francis]

Interesting discussion (carries on into the comments) on the new fonts as well as typography and the web (http://www.jasonsantamaria.com/archive/2005/03/21/typographic_glass_ceiling.php)