With every new version of Windows or Office, Microsoft Corporation seems to generally like to package a couple of small freebies that make it a sweeter deal, after all, as they say: it’s the little things that count. Windows Vista and Office 2007 are no exception: not only is Microsoft apparently trying to make up for lost years (almost 6 for Vista, and four for Office), and it is doing a great job! At NeoSmart we’ve only had praise for the Office team, and we feel that the Microsoft Typography team is at the very least on-par with them, if not even higher… Once you’ve read this review, we’re sure you’ll agree.
The following are examples of 10 new Vista/Office 2007 fonts, taken in Office 2007 at 11 pts. Although Microsoft has made quite a few more new ones, these are the primarily Latin-based scripts that ship with every install, regardless of regional options. Notice that the majority of the fonts are sas-serif (at stark contrast with the theoretically more legible serif scripts for longer articles), and that, for some inexplicably odd reason, too many of them start with the letter C! (Not that we have anything against the letter C, but again, why?!)
All of these fonts have been optimized for screen-readability by the experts at the Microsoft Typography Labs; and for the first time in history, it is possible to have fonts that display great on the screen and look just as well on paper, thanks to the advanced ani-aliasing features and OpenType libraries employed.
Click each font to view a larger screen capture with a wider variety of letters, numbers, and characters.
[images in greyscale] [digg this] [this article in spanish] [microsoft typography] [weft iii]
I think Candara is the most Web-2.0 out of all the ones on top.
Excellent review man!
Ha… I thought so too.
(Have you noticed the new NeoSmart Logo? Guess what one of the fonts is!
Beautiful fonts, I hadn’t noticed Nyala before! I love it!
Is there any chance of getting these fonts on Windows XP? I already have Segoe UI, but none of the others.
Install the free Office 2007 Beta 2 and you’ll get 8 or 9 of them
As someone who prefers to use OSS, Office and Vista just fill me with dread, but these fonts are actually supprisingly good.
I want Consolas for Notepad ! Too bad I gotta have visual studio installed to use it. Nice overview of these new fonts!
The fonts probably predominantly start with ‘C’ to keep them at the top of the alphabetically-sorted font list, as well as together. I think that it’s a good choice.
I should have thought of that :\
why letter C, my guess is when we type C (font section field) in keyboard all the new fonts will be listed, so it easlier for newbies if they want to make an extensive of newer onces but find hard to remember names!!
“…for the first time in history, it is possible to have fonts that display great on the screen and look just as well on paper…”
I think you mean for the first time in history on MS-Windows systems. Mac OS X has had an advanced anti-aliasing system in place for a few years now.
Does anyone else think Candara looks a lot like a variation of Albertus? This isn’t a criticism… I’ve always kind of liked the Albertus family but it’s never had any representatives hit the mainstream yet on either MS-Windows or Mac OS. From looking at the samples above quickly it reminds me a lot of Albertus, but there are (of course) differences too.
Actually they use the letter C because all of the 6 fonts that start with the C have been made with ClearType in mind. Just try disabling font smoothing completely and you’ll notice that those fonts aren’t even hinted, and look ugly without ClearType.
Sorry for double posting, can’t seem to edit previous post, but here’s a good video that talks about most of those fonts (there’s also a mentions about why they start with a C)
http://channel9.msdn.com/Showpost.aspx?postid=146749
“I think you mean for the first time in history on MS-Windows systems. Mac OS X has had an advanced anti-aliasing system in place for a few years now.”
Have you ever used Windows?
About Microsoft’s Segoe
“The EU throws out Microsoft’s Vista font trademark”
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060404-6517.html
(sorry if this is double posted, this form desn’t seem to work in Firefox, I had to resubmit with IE - [ugh!])
Not completely off-topic… What font is being used on this web page for the body and titles? I really like them both!
Nice review! Any idea what the license(s) will be for these, i.e. will I be able to find them online (legally) and use them on my Linux system?
Although not obvious (without doing a web search) Nyala was primarily added to Windows to support the Ethiopian writing systems - the Latin portion is quite nice regardless. Cheers, Si
…oh and try Segoe Script in Vista Notepad - the contextual OpenType isn’t working in your sample.
@J.
Windows XP introduced ani-aliased fonts before OS X, and I believe before mainstream linux as well, but it was not perfected until now.
@James: Believe it or not, Calibri is set to the first default font
@Anthony: They will ship with Windows Vista and Office 2007, so if you get one of them you’re entitled to use these fonts. They will also be available at a price for direct download off of Microsoft for Macintosh and Linux users.
@Si: You are correct. Thanks.
I’m Stunned! It looks just a tiny bit different, but it makes all the difference in the world! I’m on my way out, but I’ll update the screenshots later. Thank you!
RISC OS had antialiasing from about 1990 as did BeOS. So the argument about which came first - OS X or XP AA is irrelevant.
How complete are the char sets for these fonts - do we actually get SC & OSF fonts and are there Expert sets too? What about Greek and Cyrillic characters - for maths work they’re crucial though of course no one in their right mind would choose Word over LaTeX for maths setting… what format are they supplied in - OTF or TTF?
Yeah, those are all included.
Cambria comes with a special font called Cambria Math as well….
From http://blogs.msdn.com/michkap/archive/2006/04/04/567881.aspx :
Calibri: Latin/Greek/Cyrillic Latin, Greek, Cyrillic
Cambria: Cambria Math Latin/Greek/Cyrillic Latin, Greek, Cyrillic Math
Candara: Latin/Greek/Cyrillic Latin, Greek, Cyrillic
Consolas: Latin/Greek/Cyrillic Latin, Greek, Cyrillic
Constantia: Latin/Greek/Cyrillic Latin, Greek, Cyrillic
Corbel: Latin/Greek/Cyrillic Latin, Greek, Cyrillic
That’s an excellent link, check it out.
Um…there’s a bug in WordPress, I can’t unsubscribe from the email notifications.
Could you fix it?
Remake those screenshots without ClearType. The color-bleeding is awful, even on an LCD. ClearType takes the display’s subpixel order into account, something which a prerendered picture just cannot do.
I really like Nyala :-). I hope that someone will “remake” it and release it for linux
Segoe UI is very similar to Myriad, though may be slightly thinner.
I’ve uploaded an example of myriad here, compare it to Segoe UI and see what you think!
Incidentally, iPods with a colour display use the font Myriad for their UI, so it could be that Windows Vista’s title bars will look very similar.
Could this be a deliberate decision on Microsofts part? Or is that too cynical?
Perhaps a simpler answer is that both Apple and Microsoft happen to agree that this is a very readable font.
I like the fonts, but cleartype gives em a headache. On TFT’s nothing looks better than non antialiased pixel perfection. That my opinion anyway. Cleartype is nasty.
Please, as many have already said, post some greyscale antialiased versions, those colourful cleartype renderings are horrible on CRTs TFTs with a different colour order.
It could be interesting so see how the fonts render with freetype, making some samples using the GIMP might be useful
@Andy
Segoe UI is actually identical to Frutiger (45 light)
Microsoft has already admited this by the way.
http://jules.vslcatena.nl/frutiger.jpg
Fonts that are sort of a mix between serif and san serif are called semi serif’ed.
I’m working on the email subscription bug, it’s something to do with WP SVN… I’ll let you know when that’s fixed - my apologies.
Per popular demand, a link to greyscale renders of the above-listed previews have been added. Please note, these renders are not done without ClearType, but have simply had their color info dropped. As such, they contain the hinting in design and AA features, but won’t look as good on a TFT-LCD Monitor - but if you have an LCD with different subpixels or a CRT, you might enjoy them more.
Cheers!
-CG
Update: We have fixed the email notification bug, sorry for the trouble. Feel free to use the link beneath the reply box to subscribe/unsubscribe/change delivery options.
Regards,
CG
For some slightly more interesting and indepth coverage of a few of the fonts, you may wish to look at http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=47&aid=78683
“Have you ever used Windows?”
Yes, of course, and in fact I’m one of those “lucky” ones who right now has to deal with both an MS-Windows box and a Mac on my desk at the same time. I even have to occasionally use X-Windows in either its GNOME or CDE manifestations depending upon whether I need to use Linux or Solaris.
I wasn’t trying to start a flamewar — each platform has its place. The point I was trying to make was that anti-aliasing fonts is hardly new tech. Computer Guru posted the clarification that it hasn’t been perfected until now, but I still maintain that this claim is only true for MS-Windows — it’s been working fine on Mac OS X with its monitor-based variable font smoothing style for years (and as Matthew posted both RISC OS and BeOS have long had it too, and I’d personally be surprised if Amiga OS didn’t also feature it). As far as I can see, it’s just a case of an existing tried-and-true tech being made more mainstream, not a case of an earth-shattering new tech finally becoming perfected for the first time ever anywhere.
I don’t have the Segoe Print?
Jan
Segoe Print doesn’t ship with Office, it only comes with Vista… which you can now get free!
http://neosmart.net/blog/archives/183
Always a bit difficult to use design and Microsoft in the same sentence but these are a vast improvement over the likes of Trebuchet and Comic Sans. However when it comes to Microsoft, there’s always a caveat: they’re proprietary - nothing ever emanates from Redmond that might be even considered in an open source context.
The consistently irreverent side of my multi-modal personality requires that I ask: so who named these fonts?
The same guy who’s naming Toyotas?
Calibri, Cambria, Candara, Consolas, Constantia, Corbel…
hmmm, sounds kind of like Camry, Corrolla, Cressida, Celica, Corona, Crown, Carina…
That’s really not fair.
Microsoft has an entire section devoted to open source (and, no, I’m not talking about the “it’s all an act” Open Source Linux Labs at Microsoft - that’s a joke).
Microsoft Research works on it’s own open source license (they call it “shared source”), that’s far more flexible than many of the more popular OS licenses out there today.
And, they don’t just make “free” software that’s useless, I’m talking about real hard-core innovation (making one wi-fi adaptor connect to two networks at once!?)
But yeah, I agree, the naming scheme is scary
(a) Those fonts aren’t “a mixture of serif and sans-serif”. They’re serif fonts, period. What on earth do you think makes them “not true serif fonts”?
(b) Segoe UI damn well is not identical to Frutiger, and I don’t know how someone who actually has a Frutiger installed can be stupid enough to claim it is. It’s even LESS similar to Frutiger than (e.g.) Arial is to Helvetica, because you can at least replace Helvetica with Arial and your layout will not change, while replacing Frutiger with Segoe UI will totally reflow your document. It also has major differences in many letter shapes: look at the shape of the dot on “i” or “j” (round like Myriad, not square like Frutiger), or at the tail of the Q, or at the capital J, or indeed at just about any other fucking letter. They are totally different and trivially distinguishable for anyone with half a clue.
Just as a footnote, you all might like to know, the proper term is ’sans-serif’
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sans-serif
Note, the extra ’s’.
I’m glad people seem to like the Nyala design, but I was a little surprised to see it discussed in this context. Nyala is primarily an Ethiopic typeface, supporting the ancient syllabic writing system now used to write most of the languages of Ethiopia and Eritrea. Geraldine Wade at Microsoft drew the initial Ethiopic characters, and I revised them and then added the Latin companion design that is showcased in this blog post. The Latin design primarily exists to supplement the Ethiopic, and is designed to harmonise with it visually, to facilitate bilingual texts and the occasional use of English or other Latin-script words in Ethiopic text. So it was a surprise to see the Latin design being considered on its own merits, but gratifying nonetheless.
Hello John,
Seeing as your on the design team, the first thing I have to say is: you guys did an amazing job (as you can see by reading the comments).
To be totally frank, we had 9 fonts and needed one more. All the other primarily non-Latin scripts had standard barely-not-arial (or some other stock font) but Nyala had a Latin script that looked like it was well thought out.
New fonts are pretty terrible. Good that Bill Gates is retiring. As a Swiss give me ‘Helvetica’ any time. We use Arial in preference. Sorry MS !!!!
Bill Gates has nothing to do with the fonts, and just because Helvetica is nice (I do agree), it doesn’t mean these are terrible, even if Helvetica is nicer….
Hello,
I have surfed on the net I have found your blog. It’s amazing.
Your blog is great, thanks.
Please, as many have already said, post some greyscale antialiased versions, those colourful cleartype renderings are horrible on CRTs TFTs with a different colour order.
It could be interesting so see how the fonts render with freetype, making some samples using the GIMP might be useful
They can be gotten here:
http://jeffmilner.com/index.php/2005/07/30/windows-vista-fonts-now-available/
Where are the images man!?
None of them are showing, and this is the only good it on Google!
Someone else below asked this already.
I am getting nailed with Spam in my website for our blog website. Is there anyway to stop this? If not, there really isn’t any point in leaving it up and active. Any help will be greatly appreciated. http://www.profesjonalna-reklama.pl
Thanks Keep up the good work. Greetings from Poland
Great article and excellent theme. The tips it’s very useful for my website I am dealing with today for.
“Sans serif” means “without serif” in french. “San serif” on the other hand doesn’t mean anything in any language.
Great article - radu - thanks for info about san serif;)
The color-bleeding is awful.
Wasn’t there a link to a grayscale pack somewhere here?
The color bleeding is horrendous on CRT monitors, but on my other PC w/ an LCD, it looks great.
Can someone put the Grayscale link back up, please?
For some reason all the links that used to be at the bottom of the article had disappeared, including those to the greyscale reneders. I’ve re-added the links along with a couple of new ones, hope you find that helpful.
The greyscale renders take care of the color-bleeding for those of you with a monitor RGB profile different from the one these were rendered on.
[download] (70 kb)
For me Ofiice 2000 is ok, no errors.
I really got to say that these fonts look great and I like that Windows makes so many of new styles.
On my side it often took a long time to find the font, i want, but with the possibility to choose out of more, this gonna be easier
^^
Re: a-comprehensive-look-at-the-new-microsoft-fonts/
[microsoft typography] This link is misstyped… mising the “:” behind http.
Thanks for the heads-up!
Link updated.
Who was that fuckin moron to name all fonts with ‘C’?
Btw, Vista is a steaming pile of shit, and Windows font smoothing is a joke, you fuckin retards.
If you can send me the TTF files, I can include them in the next release of the Web Core fonts for Linux, which already includes Verdana, Tahoma, etc.
I just checked out windows vista last week. This founds are a very good recommandation, much more easy to read on screen, more usefull than the classic Arial I used before.
Nice review! Any idea what the license(s) will be for these, i.e. will I be able to find them online (legally) and use them on my Linux system? Please reply
So far, they’re under the same proprietary license covering Windows’ resources.
In the past, Microsoft has been very lenient with the distribution of Windows’ icons, sounds, dlls, and fonts - but note that this doesn’t mean it’s actually legal!
Some of the sites posting trackbacks to this post have the fonts available for download.
Nice review! I like the last two fonts the best.
I think that Vista fonts are better than XP fonts.
You give nice examples. I will digg this article
Is it that no one knows the difference between
it’s
and
its
or is it that no cares?
Well for me its or it’s no care or i dont or don’t care or aaaahhh whatever
Sure, feel free to translate it to any language you want. We just ask that you link back and name us as the source in the beginning. Once you’ve translated it, just post back and I’ll link to the translation too.
Okay, I give up - what is the font for the new NeoSmart logo? I really like it.
Thanks, Steve!
It’s a hand-touched version of Candara & Footlight
I like the new Fonts, thank you for this comparsion!
it’s “sans serif,” not “sas-serif” or “san-serif.” all three appeared in your post… is it really that hard to proofread an article about typography?
It is when the text is an image capture
try install some open source font, it works a lot better
What works a lot better?
You can argue that these Vista fonts look even better on Linux than they do on Windows thanks to GTK’s better “cleartype” engine; but if you’re saying that “open source” fonts look nicer than “closed source” fonts… then you’ll have to be a bit more specific than that.
How to install these new Vista fonts on Linux. The link also includes an alternative approach for OpenOffice.org users who cannot/will not install the Vista fonts because of license reasons.
IANAL, but in certain cases Linux users can install the Vista fonts. Also, I think you cannot redistribute neither the new Vista fonts nor the old web core fonts with as tarballs or RPMS.
These Fonts are very cool but where Can I download them ?
You don’t, they come with Windows Vista and Office 2007.
Emmanuel and Mahmoud Al-Qudsi, yes, you can download these fonts! The instructions and links are here: http://www.oooninja.com/2008/01/calibri-linux-vista-fonts-download.html
I have these on a new Dell notebook w/Vista & Office 2007. On my XP desktop, however, I have Office 2003 but I also installed OneNote 2007 stand-alone. That gave my XP machine most but not all of the new typefaces; it is missing the Nyala, Segoe Print, and Segoe Script. Oddly enough I wanted to try the Script just for the heck of it. Have to wait till tomorrow when I fire up the notebook again!
I wonder why they excluded those few from OneNote 2007? Beyond that, I wonder if they aren’t actually on the installation CD for ON 2007 but not loaded with the “Typical” setup - MS has a habit of doing that a lot.
Personally I really like Calibri, the new default for Office. I’ve made that the default in Office 2003 as well!
I really have to say that these fonts look great and I like that Windows makes so many of new styles.
Finally Microsoft came up with something useful…
Something usefull? i still dont like Microsoft and their products, they should try to make their os run better and much more stable!!
The big advantage of Consolas from a programming perspective is that 1 (one) I (capital i) and l (lower case l) are all clearly different as well as zero being crossed. There are very few fonts that enable clear distinction to be made in all these areas.
Proggy (http://www.proggyfonts.com/index.php?menu=download) is another font family that does that but is limited in appeal as it is designed to be used at one size. It is also available for X-windows and Macs
Rgrds
F