The annoying rise of Lucida Grande
Many Web 2.0-ish sites these days are using Lucida Grande and Helvetica font faces for main body text. I find this really annoying. These font faces are not easy to read on-screen, particularly at 13px. When I come across this, I increase the text size via my browser, which improves the readability somewhat. Mashable.com is a great example of this. Is that text easy to read? No. At least, not on a Windows system. I haven't cracked my iBook in some time. Is this easier to read on a Mac? Why are designers so fond of Lucida Grande? From a usability standpoint, I'm stumped.
February 25th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
I checked that mashables website but it doesn't show lucida grande on my computer (perhaps it is because I don't have it as such on my system.) Dead curious to know how ugly it looks! Cheers, L
February 26th, 2008 at 11:18 am
Thanks Louise, you set me straight with your comment. My post should be titled "The annoying rise of Helvetica". I don't have Lucida Grande on my Windows system either, so it's defaulting to Helvetica for me. I suspect it's a more common font on Mac. It looks like a nice type face.
I do like Helvetica for HTML headlines, and in graphics, but for HTML main body text, it's just too hard to read, I think. This is what I see.
Again, I imagine it's more readable on a Mac, so the rise of HTML Helvetica can probably be attributed to the increased saturation of Macs. Mac designers should be aware however that Win users still far outnumber them, and just has we have to check our designs on Macs for compatibility, so too should they be testing for the Windows market.
By the way, the paintings on your website are incredible!!
February 26th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Both those samples you sent me to look absolutely awful. My empathy goes out to you. Thanks for the insight. And thanks for the compliments.