Hacker News Reader

Comment by jameswyse | Hacker News Reader

Does anyone else find the font used on that page really distracting? What's with the I looking like a J?

I was going to say the same thing. The font is FF Schulbuch Süd Web Pro, and it looks like this: http://imgur.com/Uvft4. I can't fathom why it's designed like that. (Link to FontShop: http://www.fontshop.com/fonts/singles/fontfont/ff_schulbuch_...)

This is how I was taught cursive writing in school:

http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Datei:La-ges.jpg

I am German (as is the name of the font) and I could read the article without being distracted.

For comparison, a great deal of us in the US, if not most of us, were taught this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cursive.svg

And I hear this is fast on its way out, with cursive English script simply dying, with no replacement.

The name hints at its use: Schulbuch is German and means school book. Why was that font used in textbooks in elementary schools in Germany?

Because this is what kids learn to write: http://i.imgur.com/LbQ7l.png

But nowadays textbooks use changed variants of that font, actually – with a normal I. I think that has something to do with the decreasing importance of that cursive. Kids still learn it, sure, but it’s no longer as important and central as it was only, say, twenty years ago.

Even better, the page is entirely unreadable until the font loads - it's been spinning for a minute, and what I assume is the text is pure white.

This. Since when was an I a slightly smaller J?

Well ... i is a slightly smaller j.

Actually, 'J' is a swashed 'I': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J

Reply on news.ycombinator.com