[Python-Dev] Playing with a new theme for the docs, iteration 2 (original) (raw)

Scott Dial scott+python-dev at scottdial.com
Mon Mar 26 14:44:40 CEST 2012

On 3/26/2012 1:00 AM, Greg Ewing wrote:

This seems to be another case of the designer over-specifying things. The page should just specify a sans-serif font and let the browser choose the best one available. Or not specify a font at all and leave it up to the user whether he wants serif or sans-serif for the body text -- some people have already said here that they prefer serif.

Why even bother formatting the page?

The authorship and editorship have authority to dictate the presentation of the content. A large part of the effectiveness of a document and it's ease of consumption is determined by how it appears in whatever medium it's delivered on. While this particular medium invites the readership to participate in design choices, fonts are not all created equal and practical matters (size, tracking, and kerning) will dictate that some fonts will present better than other fonts. Consistent presentation across different systems is also a virtue, since people develop familiarity with the presentation and find information more readily if the presentation is consistent.

I have no problem having Georg dictating to me the best font with which to present the documentation. However, I'd appreciate fallback choices that are of a similar appearance along the way to the ultimate fallback of "sans-serif". Practically, the fonts available are unknown and unless we adopt the use of a liberally licensed OpenType font and use @font-face to embed a font, we need to provide fallbacks.

-- Scott Dial scott at scottdial.com

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