Webcomic Pet Peeves

[TheSuburbanLetdown]

Yeah, seriously.

[McDuffies]

But what about those who want to be rebellious, individual and non-conformist (and get on as many nerves as they can)?

[KWill]

In the realm of speech bubbles, and nowhere else, sure. But then a crayon is better for comic making than a rock.

You do know that charcoal can be considered a rock, right?

[Yeahduff]

1. Not really in the form you use to draw with it.

2. I don't recommend you cartoon in charcoal.

But what about those who want to be rebellious, individual and non-conformist (and get on as many nerves as they can)?

Then know what you're doing, don't just be lazy and undiscerning.

[McDuffies]

Gee Duff, cheer up!

[Paul Escobar]

I also don't get the deep hatred some people have against Comic Sans. It's legible, it's available on most computers and there is no great "offensive" characteristic to it.

I wonder if the people who hate Comic Sans also hate Ariel or Times New Roman?

There's nothing wrong with Ariel and Times New Roman. They're both a bit overused, and Ariel's a slightly less elegant copy of Helvetica, but they're reasonably well designed and serviceable fonts.

Comic Sans is widely disliked because it's one of the most poorly designed fonts in existence. Its default kerning and tracking - that's the spacing betwen the letters - is off. That impedes reading a text. It's not legible.

It only gets used because it's one of the fonts that comes free with Windows, because it's the only one of those free fonts that tries (but fails) to imitate handwriting, and because people are too lazy to spend 10 minutes googling for a better free font.

There's a reason publishers pay font designers and layouters to typeset novels, manuals, newspapers and magazines; there's a reason they use certain types of serif fonts in novels, certain types of sans fonts for certain types of magazines, etc: easy legibility. Choose the wrong font, and you're losing readers. Not because the readers think "I hate [insert font name]" (hell, most people don't even know what the word "font" means) but because the wrong font in the wrong place impedes reading. If legibility is even the slightest bit difficult... most people simply stop reading.

This is difficult to explain to people who insist they don't see what's wrong with Comic Sans. But even if you don't personally understand typography, it still matters. You may not see what's wrong with a certain type of brick, either, but if you use the wrong bricks, you may find yourself in a house with severe indoor climate and/or structural issues.

[Phalanx]

In the realm of speech bubbles, and nowhere else, sure. But then a crayon is better for comic making than a rock.

You do know that charcoal can be considered a rock, right?

I use inkstones, does that count?

[Komiyan]

Ping! ..what the heck is an inkstone?

[Phalanx]

Ping! ..what the heck is an inkstone?

Hi Komi Nice to see a familiar face!

An inkstone is a slab of stone used in Chinese calligraphy to grind your inksticks with, to make ink for your calligraphy and in my case, art.

*looks at list of peeves* My word, I am guilty of sooooo many of these.

[Mercury Hat]

This thread will now be about welcoming Ping back, because all other areas of discussion have been exhausted.

So shall it be written, so shall it be done.

[Yeahduff]

Well I'll be, Phalanx.

*looks for stronger superglue*

[Phalanx]

Well I'll be, Phalanx.

*looks for stronger superglue*

Uh oh...

I'm just popping in once in while. I've barely gotten TLS back to a once a week schedule as it is after my über long hiatus. I have to say things have changed quite a bit! It's like going back to a place you visited and finding a whole town has been built in its place!

[TheSuburbanLetdown]

Like that time I came home from college and there was a subdivision I've never seen before.

[McDuffies]

I'm just popping in once in while.

Not enough! Less talking, more popping! I mean less working, more talking, more popping, less... eh, stalling?

This thread will now be about welcoming Ping back, because all other areas of discussion have been exhausted.

Not neccesarily but there'd be five pages of pro/con Comic Sans discussion after this which would render any other talk impossible...

Also I was always partially fond of Courier. It makes my guitar tablatures legit and even.

[Yeahduff]

Why would anyone argue over something so mundane as font choice?

[Mercury Hat]

Because this is the most active topic GD has seen in months.

[TheSuburbanLetdown]

He's in a typography class, so I'm pretty sure it was sarcasm. But then again, I don't know. I don't even know anymore.

[KWill]

In the realm of speech bubbles, and nowhere else, sure. But then a crayon is better for comic making than a rock.

You do know that charcoal can be considered a rock, right?

I use inkstones, does that count?

Since they disprove Duff, most certainly

[Tim]

This thread will now be about welcoming Ping back, because all other areas of discussion have been exhausted.

So shall it be written, so shall it be done.

In that case...hi Ping! *waves*

[Yeahduff]

*chucks inkstone at Kwill's head*