Topic: Sans-Serif or Serif when modifying Font Face for your posts/ threads (Read 469 times)

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The answer is the default font on mobile devices is Sans-serif, and many users visit the forum from their mobile devices.

It looks very much the same font to me when using mobile phone to access bitcointalk.org forum. I recommend using the default font as we don't have to use bbcode to change the font. It really will help finish the post without consuming too much time if you are busy and you have other things to do.

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You pointed out one of reasons why posters should not modify default font to their preferenced ones. There is at least one reason for not doing this: on mobile devices, a default font will be displayed, no matter which fonts used by posters.
Thank you so much. I edited OP with correctness for that typo.

Don't bother changing the fonts by forcing specific font names, everyone's system is different; Arial for example is a Microsoft font, don't assume everyone has it.

You could try using generic-family fonts, such as [font=serif][/font] but don't bother picking an specific font name.

Oh, and its not san, its sans-serif.


I'm generally opposed to the idea of people trying to force their font preferences. Sans-serif vs Serif is generally assumed to be a matter of readability depending on your display, with sans-serif being more legible with low dpi screens, and serif with high dpi screens. How are you going to know which person uses which? Do you think everyone is using anti aliasing, and a good one, or that their fonts are vectorized and not bitmapped? You just don't know.

I skip over posts with fancy or coloured text. If you want to get the maximum exposure for your message, then stick to the standard fonts.
If you want to attract the kids, and the people with time to waste, then make your posts hard to scan quickly, and add low relevance images.

Don't fall into font modifications is the best, in my opinion. The default font (on computers or mobile - phones, tablets) is san-serif, so it works well originally. There is no need to modify it and makes it harder, uncomfortable for readers.

I hadn't given any thought to how the forum looked on my cell phone Vs my PC.  I wouldn't even know how to install fonts onto the phone, I guess that's why the creators of this forum chose the font they did.

(Personally I always preferred Times New Roman over Ariel, but find Courier New to be better for displaying numerals in work documents as it keeps the values in readable columns).

I created the thread to remind that users should use default font, so I agreed too.

Agreed. I honestly can't think of a single good reason to change the font in your post, and I would see it as the same as using huge font sizes, flashy colors, overusing images or emojis, etc. Posts with obnoxious formatting might grab the attention of newbies, but they are more than likely going to be only skimmed or even skipped by more senior users.

There is a reason that new Bitcoin Core releases are posted in plain, black text, or the bitcoin whitepaper involved minimal formatting, while most altcoin threads involve huge images, multiple colors, overusing bold/italics/underlines, and so forth; style over substance. If you need unusual fonts or obnoxious formatting to attract attention to your post, it suggests your post is lacking in useful information.

I want to be able to read threads quickly, and this is most easily done with good grammar and minimal formatting.

No, bb code can't be used in topic titles. Maybe some forums take it further and have some code in the bbcode so it's not helpful to load it when you click recent replies or something...

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Changing font isn't very good and might make you lost people of your Ann if you've used a font they don't like.

Most people here are going to be after sonething you can skim read and it's easier when they're all in the same font...

I use bitcointalk mostly on mobile . And I confirm this, all font faces look are same here.

Personally, I don't like this kind of modifications. This is a simple forum, not a website. Formatting is important, but other kind of formatting.

It is important to quote precisely, it is important to use bold and italics when necessary, and maybe a big and small font size.

But fancy things like images and font face do not look good in devices, and also are harder to read sometimes.

If you are changing the font face of your post, only your post will look different, which does not look good (imo)

Can the subject be modified? Or make any modifications (Bold, italic font.)
There are some simple modifications that can make fundamental differences even if you don't use any font such as this code.

Hello World!
Hello World!
The second line is used in signatures, and appears stable in many browsers.

Exactly. I saw it myself. On mobile devices, text displayed in san-serif fonts or only default font, as I saw.
This post displayed with san-serif font on my phone.

In addition, that most of those fonts don't actually works in mobile browsers except the courier new if I'm correct.

By default, forum gives users with sans-serif font; but if users want, they can modify default sans-serif font to other sans-serif fonts, or serif-fonts.
How?
Clicking on the icon

or directly modifying font using code

It is an example from SMF Bulletin Board Code
font face

Let's compare with default sans-serif fonts
font face default
font face Arial
font face Tahoma

Serif fonts:
font face Times New Roman
If you use serif fonts for long posts, like that, your posts looks unfriendly.

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Which fonts are safely to use in the forum?
Safely means when you use those fonts, other users can see what you post without requirements to install those fonts on their computers.

I got the list from Coding Enthusiast.
Font List

Be careful when you want to use other fonts, such as in the below list.

Considerations

• Using sans-serif default font is the best
• Modifying font with other sans-serif fonts is good
• Modiying font with serif-fonts is bad idea

I suggest to use default font of the forum, don't modify anything. It save your time, and default font is most user friendly, in my opinion.

I think serif-fonts is bad idea because it makes your posts look less user-friendly, takes more time to read contents. In my opinion, if you want to use serif-fonts or complicated fonts, you should only use them for Topic tittles, Paragraph headings, etc. For main contents, use sans-serif fonts.

I think this rule is true not only in the forum, but also for powerpoint presentation, word documents, and more text documents.
If you are still doubt about annoying appearance from serif-fonts, please read: https://www.canva.com/learn/serif-vs-sans-serif-fonts/

Admin actually choose the best default option for font in the forum, or at least the most favorite fonts. I don't think we should over-modify fonts, abuse it too much, that might cause annoyance for readers.

On mobile devices, text will only be displayed in sans-serif default fonts (I guess). By the way, I appreciated @bL4nkcode for your reminder.