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Comment by leetrout | Hacker News Reader

Off topic but wow cannot believe someone used comic sans.

It's just because SPJ likes it. He uses it for presentations a lot.

I like it. It's easy to read.

> This is a very funny question, "Why use Comic Sans?" So, all my talks use Comic Sans and I frequently see remarks like 'Simon Peyton-Jones, great talk about Haskell but why did he use Comic Sans?' but nobody's ever been able to tell me what is wrong with it. It's a nice legible font, I like it. So until somebody explains to me ... Ah, I understand that it's meant to be a bit naff, but I don't care about naff stuff, I care about being able to read it. So if you have got a sort of ... some rational reasons why I should not then I'll listen to them. But just being unfashionable? I don't care.

source: https://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/38226/what...

He is asking for reasoning when he doesn't provide any, so his use of it is just idiosyncratic and stubborn. It is a noisy language that is hard to read in bulk and takes up a lot of space. It was invented for what was basically a computer game for kids, so why does he insist on using it for presenting technical material? Using fonts beyond their originally designed purpose with no reason is asinine and actually fashion, despite him thinking otherwise.

What's the big deal, using a font outside of its narrowly designed purpose is certainly not it. Some people venture outside the box

Venturing outside the box is fine. But it's an idiosyncratic choice without much, if any, upside and is ultimately a distraction and hides behind some perceived rational decision to use it. The linked Stack Exchange covers this, and one should consider the appropriateness of the tool being used. I think he'd agree on the same for programming languages.

Pure and brilliant counter signaling. His paper is worth reading and he knows it, the font is not there to entice readers. The paper does the enticing. The comics sans signals "This is either the ramblings of a child, or the utterance of genius, and I'm all out of childhood..."

He has used that PowerPoint style for years if not decades.

He used it in the "Tackling the Awkward Squad" talk from 2001[0], so it's been a long time.

[0] https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/tacklin...

Fun fact: Comic Sans is supposed to be easier to read for dyslexic people.

IIRC fonts specifically made for dyslexic people (e.g. OpenDyslexic) tend to be even better in that regard; if the goal is accessibility, one of those would be a better choice.

sad fact: dyslexic fonts are pretty useless for dyslexic

[0]: https://www.edutopia.org/article/do-dyslexia-fonts-actually-...

a good phrase on this link: "... dyslexia is a language-based processing difference, not a vision problem, despite the popular and enduring misconceptions."

Semi-hard to read fonts like comic sans has been proven to improve retention in studies.

It’s one of the reasons I like him, zero ego but still a genius. It’s the opposite of McKinsley (zero substance but looks great).

I remember European Space Agency also using Comic Sans in one of their live broadcast presentations.

Why not? Comic sans is the most inclusive font.

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