१९ जानेवारी, २०२३

In case you were wondering what Antony Blinken is up to these days or just want to know which Bob Dylan song title is getting played with in high-level government.

Here's "A font feud brews after State Dept. picks Calibri over Times New Roman/‘The Times (New Roman) are a-Changin,’ read the subject line of a cable from Secretary of State Antony Blinken to U.S. embassies as part of an accessibility push" (WaPo).

Must I rail about "The Times They Are A-Changin'" again? I'll just quote something I wrote back in 2018:

[T]he old song... anchors Bob Dylan in his political protest time, from which he changed. But Baby Boomer politicos have always harked back to it, and it serves them — I'm not including me — right to have that song sung in their face now that they are old and not ready to roll over for whatever advancement the young people think is due.

I don't include myself because I've never liked the forefronting of Protest Bob. "The Times They Are a-Changin'" is the song picked out from all the others by people who don't really know and love Bob. I don't like seeing him used this way, restricted to this narrow version.

And the words are too cruel and anti-inclusive to use generally (outside of the literal blocking of doorways in the desegregation era).

Now about those fonts... did you know sans serif fonts are supposed to be easier for sight-impaired people to read? I've been sight-impaired, and I've never chosen a sans serif font for my Kindle, and I'm always searching for what's easiest to see clearly. But according to this WaPo article...

The secretary’s decision was motivated by accessibility issues and not aesthetics, said a senior State Department official familiar with the change.... Many experts agree that serif typefaces — categories of fonts with added strokes — are more difficult to read on computer screens...

Who am I going to believe — experts or my own imperfect eyes?

“Good practice would be the use of a sans serif font,” [said  University of Edinburgh’s Disability and Inclusive Learning Service] in an accessibility guide. “Fonts such as Times New Roman are much less accessible.”...

 Maybe in Scotland.

In its cable, the State Department said it was choosing to shift to 14-point Calibri font because serif fonts like Times New Roman “can introduce accessibility issues for individuals with disabilities who use Optical Character Recognition technology or screen readers."

Oh! It's not about human eyesight at all. It's about a computer doing the reading.

"It can also cause visual recognition issues for individuals with learning disabilities,” it said.

Again, I presume, it's not about eyesight. This relates to brain function.

While Calibri may improve the experience of readers who use screen readers or OCR — technology that can convert the image of text into editable text — it could make reading more difficult for others, [said Jack Llewellyn, a London-based designer who specializes in typography]....

Exactly, that's my point. So many people have eyesight issues.

५१ टिप्पण्या:

Kevin म्हणाले...

I see the world is falling apart but Blinken is focused on the larger-type issues.

Jaq म्हणाले...

Does he have a Siamese cat on his shoulder, is my only question.

kristen म्हणाले...

I work at a church and we changed back to a serif font for our printed bulletins because it is far easier for older eyes to see. Specifically-- the serif helps the eye track where the bottom edge of the words are, so it's easier to keep track of what line you're reading on.

I think it also helps the eye to recognize a word's shape and identify it more quickly, but the line tracking is why we changed back.

Lem Vibe Bandit म्हणाले...

From google’s ‘People also asked’

What Calibri says about you?

You tend to like neutral things and maybe your personality can be a bit swiss. If you're on the Calibri buzz, odds are you're an avid Microsoft supporter. Mar 14, 2022


Ha!

Temujin म्हणाले...

Good to see our feckless Secy of State working on the key issues of our time. Love this administration. I've never seen anything like it. Not ever. Not even in the heady days of Burt Lance running the OMB. Today we have the likes of Jennifer Granholm, Pete 'Don't-call-me-Petey Buttigeig, Alejandro Mayorkas and others, like Antony Blinken.

What a show.

Dave Begley म्हणाले...

The Nebraska Supreme Court changed the font and margin requirements for all pleadings and briefs. Arial is forbidden. The reason? Supposedly easier to read the briefs on their iPads. Lawyers hate it.

rhhardin म्हणाले...

A fraktur font would be perfect for the NYT.

gilbar म्हणाले...

i use Consolas.. Like GOD intended us to use

john mosby म्हणाले...

I can’t distinguish between a numeral one, a capital eye, and a small ell in sans-serif fonts.

When I had to look at alphanumeric service tag codes and the spreadsheet was in a sans-serif font, i would convert it to a serifed font.

JSM

rwnutjob म्हणाले...

Russia, China, & Iran running rampant in the world, but hey, let's change fonts in the State Department.

William म्हणाले...

It took a period of adjustment but I'm 100% pro kindle. You can enlarge the type to read comfortably no matter what type style is used. No need for reading glasses. Another plus, you can read in the park, even in the gathering gloom of winter's late afternoon. Also you can look up those pesky, little used words that British historians are wont to throw into their works. The maps, photos and illustrations aren't as good on Kindle, but that's the only downside....I sometimes pick up books in used bookstores, but only to read at home. Even then I look to see if the library has a kindle version and read that if available.

Mike of Snoqualmie म्हणाले...

I'm sure glad Blinken has found a passion to hang his hat on. Times New Roman vs. Calibri! Such a big issue! I'm sure our ambassadors are regaling their counterparts about how Calibri is so much more diverse, equitable and inclusive and will be the savior of humanity.

Increasing the font size to 14-pt increases the gravitas of all the nonsense the State Department puts out. I can see how this improves the menus of all State Dept. festivals. Biden's Iran betrayal agreement looks much better in 14-pt Calibri than 12-pt TNR.

William50 म्हणाले...

I've worn glasses since grade school and I prefer the Arial font. I'm curious which font is used on eye charts.

PJ म्हणाले...

My office recently “upgraded” to a version of Westlaw that displays the text of all cases in a previously unseen (by me, anyway) sans-serif font. It now takes me longer to read the cases, and they tell me I cannot display case text in any alternative font, not even Westlaw’s old one. I guess they think I have stalled; perhaps they’re right. A pox on all of them.

And anyway, why would the State Department want to make it easier for people like Anthony Weiner to OCR their stuff?

Mike of Snoqualmie म्हणाले...

Bob Dylan's voice grates on me. I'll often change the channel when one of his songs comes on.

Jake म्हणाले...

I prefer Century. It’s a serif font, but not as tightly compact as Times New Roman. Whenever I read something that is supposed to be “professional” but isn’t in serif font I downgrade its reliability.

Breezy म्हणाले...

He just wants to reduce the blinken when readen.

NKP म्हणाले...

Put me on Team Blinken, here. "Protest Bob" is not the Real Bob". Saint
Joan learned this the hard way. "Diamonds and Rust" is a great "lesson-learned" song.

The list of Dylan songs that should be echoing through the halls of power is a long one. I could waste an hour or two thinking about that... and probably will.

re Pete म्हणाले...

"Seem like every time you stop and turn around
Something else just hit the ground"

Balfegor म्हणाले...

Down with Antiqua, bring back Fraktur!

Lurker21 म्हणाले...

Fiddling while Rome burns.

Jaq म्हणाले...

My favorite "Protest Bob" song is "When the Ship Comes In," because Joan Baez was with him in a hotel room when he wrote it, and she explained how it came about. The hotel would not let the unwashed and not yet famous Bob Dylan in, and the famous Baez had to call down to get them to let him in, and you know he said to himself "when my ship comes in!" Anybody would; well, in those days it was a common saying. But then he turned it around to not be about himself and used his anger to write that great song. Or maybe he just exists on such a spiritual plane that he did not have to go through the step of it being about himself the way mere mortals would.

I was thinking about Dylan in "No Direction Home" where early in his career, he just invented a life for himself and told people that it was his real life story, when the George Santos thing happened. Maybe George Santos is just a "political expeditionary."

Big Mike म्हणाले...

I never liked Times Roman font, and was glad when the corporation where I worked chose a different font as our internal standard. The idea behind the font seemed to be to cram as many letters into as small a space as possible. Not at all aesthetically appealing to my eyes.

Tofu King म्हणाले...

Ann, you are a treasure. Too have a story about government use of fonts intersect with a Dylan song is in your wheelhouse and you are knocking out of the park.

Roger Sweeny म्हणाले...

I have been told that sans serif fonts like Calibri are easier to read on small screens, in other words phones.

Smilin' Jack म्हणाले...

Serifs forever. Sans-serif fonts are ugly.

Lem Vibe Bandit म्हणाले...

“The Night Times New Roman Called it a Day”.

By the artist formally known as Protest Bob.

Roger Sweeny म्हणाले...

Ah, but which Interstate font do you prefer?

Jaq म्हणाले...

"Diamonds and Rust" is a great song, but I am not sure she got it right:

"So you're telling me, you're not nostalgic, well give me another word for it..."

Watch the Rolling Thunder Review, and listen to the music Dylan went on to create, his comeback was not about nostalgia.

robother म्हणाले...

This White House was made for Comic Sans.

Jaq म्हणाले...

"Speaking strictly for me, we both could have died then and there..."

Before Dylan did much of his best work.

Kay म्हणाले...

The default on microsoft word used to be times new roman but now it’s calqmbri. Wonder if this is oart of the reasoning for this.

rcocean म्हणाले...

Blowin' in the Wind
The Times They Are a-Changin

Are two good Dylan Protest songs that I enjoy, at least when song by others like PP and Mary.

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is rapidly agin'
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'


Yep, get out the way Boomers.

Pointguard म्हणाले...

My Back Pages is the true Bob.

MadisonMan म्हणाले...

I'm kinda wondering how many man-hours went into this important font decision.

cassandra lite म्हणाले...

The Times They Are A-Changin' = Imagine.

Both are treacle that had their (brief) moment in the sun for boomers, but anyone who still gets hard/wet listening to them is an embarrassment.

Amexpat म्हणाले...

Diamonds and Rust" is a great song, but I am not sure she got it right:
"So you're telling me, you're not nostalgic, well give me another word for it..."
Watch the Rolling Thunder Review, and listen to the music Dylan went on to create, his comeback was not about nostalgia.


My reading of the song differs. She's not accusing Dylan of being dishonest about not being nostalgic. She's nostalgic when Dylan calls her and it hurts. She wants another way of describing her emotions to herself to push them away.

"You who are so good with words
And at keeping things vague
'Cause I need some of that vagueness now
It's all come back too clearly"

Not a Baez fan, but "Diamonds and Rust" is a great song. If Dylan ever does a follow-up to his recent book, he should include that song.

Václav Patrik Šulik म्हणाले...

Re Fonts. I recall from a Ross Gubberman CLE that the Supreme Court and Solicitor General use Century.

The 7th Circuit has a document providing guidance. This notes the same thing about the Supremes and SG and adds, "...faces in the Bookman and Century families are preferable to faces in the Garamond and Times families."

Jaq म्हणाले...

I think that the “vagueness” bit is about how Baez writes concrete poetry, describes stuff that happened to her, and Dylan writes abstractly, it is a male female thing.

Amexpat म्हणाले...

I think that the “vagueness” bit is about how Baez writes concrete poetry, describes stuff that happened to her, and Dylan writes abstractly,...

Perhaps, but making distressing things vague or abstract is less painful than making them concrete. That's what she needs.

Assistant Village Idiot म्हणाले...

I thought the Tea Party should have used the song as an anthem, but it never caught on.

narciso म्हणाले...

So thats what the biden center money was for

Chris-2-4 म्हणाले...

I give you....

https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/im-comic-sans-asshole

You're welcome.

Chris-2-4 म्हणाले...
ही टिप्पणी लेखकाना हलविली आहे.
Chris-2-4 म्हणाले...
ही टिप्पणी लेखकाना हलविली आहे.
madAsHell म्हणाले...

Does he have a Siamese cat on his shoulder, is my only question.

Chrome horses??

RigelDog म्हणाले...

Not a big Baez fan but Diamonds and Rust is epic. She perfectly captures the sweet sadness of remembering lost love and especially the emotions you get punched with when you pick up the phone and it's The One Who Got Away. I've gotten a few of those calls....

Lloyd W. Robertson म्हणाले...

I guess boomers have had to learn to cheese it with the "I took to the street and protested" kind of talk. I'm down with the kids, kind of thing. The woke have been asking for a while now: if you protested, why is everything still so unjust? Why did you stop? Why did you settle? The young boomers had at least the beginnings of identity politics--too much privilege has gone to heteronormal white cismales, not enough to anybody else--but they didn't follow through. I guess they taught the young to follow through, and now the young are quite prepared to turn on the boomers, everything in its time, etc.

In my teaching days I took for granted that teaching Plato's Republic was a good way of channelling youthful idealism into more and better education. Now I wonder. The woke have this puritanical side, battling against eros and humor. Maybe they should have had more of Plato's Symposium: eros is what it is, it will always be a bit awkward to make laws work. An adult teaching as opposed to a juvenile one.

J Scott म्हणाले...

This feels all too much like chasing fashion and then finding a reason to do so. Did people change fonts all that much when it was all print?

Denton Romans म्हणाले...

Calibri is the devil’s font! I feel very strongly about certain fonts, perhaps even irrationally, and I just have a very visceral dislike of Calibri. It’s generic but somehow slightly off, ugly. Versus Times New Roman, which is also pretty generic but classic and still pleasing.

I don’t have anything against sans serif, perhaps because I’m near sighted and have no sight reading issues (yet), but my favorite font is Helvetica. So beautifully simple, so artfully spare. Century is my favorite serif font.

Bob म्हणाले...

In my Navy days working in a message center, we used early OCR readers for processing messages quickly; the IBM Selectric typewriters of the time used a fontball with OCR-A font, which was easy for the machines to read - - mostly.