[scribus] font usage

[Henry W. Peters]

Gregory Pittman wrote:
> On 08/15/2009 07:29 AM, CLIVE CATTERALL wrote:
>>>> Some people, I think, get lost in the idea
>>>>        

> Another Example: I note that Sony are using a sans font on their 
> manuals where it mixes nicely with the pictures, and a serif font in 
> the "serious" section of the guarantee... I honestly think that for 
> shorter documents font choice is rarely to do with legibility ...
Clive

A couple of points (no pun intended, especially for Mr. W. Allen & a 
very funny "speed reading" joke!  
("I once took a speed reading course and read 'War and Peace' in twenty 
minutes. It involves Russia.
Woody
p.s.: sorry, it's saturday morning, i just got up and i couldn't refrain 
from posting it.") :))

The top quote makes, I believe, two important points, one (accidental, 
no doubt, I do not mean to embarrass here, because I make my share of 
mistakes, no doubt, this internet medium, conducted on the fly);  a good 
choice of a font, that makes ones works stand out... with a bad choice 
of grammar, well... probably, 'nuff said there. But the point about the 
choice of font for, say, "the guarantee" is, when you think about it 
some amount, interesting... because many selling something, have 
historically *not* wanted certain text to be (very) legible... Look at 
the drug ads in the big glossy magazines for some further example... 
*but be sure to try to get through the potentially adverse effects 
section,* if there is any doubt as to some amount of intentionality in 
choice of font & size... (tiny, dark, crowded (kerning), etc.), I mean, 
who the heck would want to use that "medicine" when you could, from 
taking it, be going bald, lose sleep, smell bad, lose sexual desire, 
become incontinent, have a heart attack, etc., etc... ????

I think what has inspired me to think more carefully about fonts & 
choices, is learning of  writers, *especially poets*  who did & do small 
press publishing (to try to be clearer here, one function of poetry, 
from my view point, is & or can be, to help clean house with word 
usage/meaning)... who have (sometimes) tried to think through more 
profoundly (& as some of this has been rather experimental, or with 
limited availability of resources, not necessarily successful), as to 
what the possible effect of fonts has been, along with the 
imagery/symbolic/meaning/sound functions of words, their energy 
construct potential, etc... i.e., a choice of font & scale, spacing, is 
not necessarily just an aesthetically motivated choice, but an 
understanding (somehow) that the words them selves are images... & 
deserve appropriate treatment to help render appropriate meaning/s. 
Advertising, all too often, does similarly, but often tends to divorce 
the word/s from thoughtful meaning, i.e., to encourage unquestioned 
consumption/s.

For what it's worth.

Henry

P.s., & I do agree with Gregory (from the above quote)... the font 
business seems a balancing act.