Friday 11 September 2009

Not a Fan of Change


Now, I'm not generally one to moan or complain. Well, only sometimes. However the other day something funny happened when I did a google search. Everything I typed came out in a larger bolder font.

At first I thought it was my computer, but bizarre things don't usually happen on a computer that's not running Windows, and the same thing happened when I tried using google at work.

Some people are fanatic about fonts - you see them messing around with a new computer installation trying to get just the right one. They often get very excited about whether or not the fonts are aliased. Whatever that means.

I don't usually care. But I find it rather annoying when everything is in bold font. I did have a quick look at the preferences, but I couldn't see anything to do with unboldening fonts. What is the Greek for that anyway?

Google are great. They provide a range of wonderful services, including Blogger and Google Earth, and they have one of the best web home pages ever, and they have clearly taken a lot of trouble to keep it simple and resist turning it into Google Disney. The bold font won't stop me using their search engine exclusively. And of course I wouldn't be seen dead anywhere near "Bing". I don't mind the bigger bar. It's the bigger font I hate. Has anyone else noticed? Does anyone else care?

12 comments:

kat said...

Not a fan of change either. Haven't noticed the google thing yet but noticed, that IKEA had changed the fonts from Futura to Verdana in their new catalog and sure enough there was outrage among the font geeks. Personally, I wouldn't have noticed.

Brian o vretanos said...

Kat:

I'm not a font geek either. I have some (female) colleagues who hate Comic Sans, but even I can see why...

Bee said...

I hadn't noticed the change and that's all I can think of now!

Incidentally, OZ wanted me to google something (because he thinks google is god) and when I typed in the first part of my search "why" the drop down had such questions as:

"Why do men have nipples"
"Why do dogs eat their poop"

Weird.

Dan said...

WHY! WHY DID YOU HAVE TO POINT THAT OUT!

I hadn't noticed but now that's all I think about! Can't sleep, eat or fuc......

Jean Knee said...

sorry I just got over here. my computer was down all day.

I knew it changed only because I read about it changing, not because I noticed --or would have


I cleaned out the refrigerator because I didn't have my computer fix- now that's serious, you know we don't clean much over here

and I found out all television sucks :(

Brian o vretanos said...

Bee:

Weird in what way? Weird because those were the very questions that Oz asked you to google?

I didn't realise that dogs did that.

Dan:

Yes, it's terrible, isn't it?

Jean Knee:

That must have been awful, but at least you've come through the whole ordeal in one piece...

Unknown said...

So it wasn't just me? I agree, it doesn't look so hot in my view.

kathcom said...

Do they think they'll get even more market share with lettering that looks like it's meant for second graders or the visually impaired?

I don't like it but I'm guessing they studied the crap out of it before they made the move.

Brian o vretanos said...

Chris:

It sucks.

Kathcom:

Crap is the right word ;-) The announcement was made by some corporate manager at Google. I'm guessing that it was one of those decisions that's got more to do with "please promote me" bullshit than anything else.

for a different kind of girl said...

I haven't even noticed this yet, and as a font fan, I'm surprised I haven't. I'll be uber-aware now, though. Here's my 'not a fan of change' moment - every time I log into my Yahoo email, I swear to heaven it's been upgraded to some new version and the page always looks different. Makes me crazy.

Jean Knee said...

FIRST!!!!!!!

it's Wednesday where you are

where's the post?

Brian o vretanos said...

FADKOG:

I don't know why people bother will all those fonts. All you need is one - lucidasanstypewriter, preferably ;-)

Jean Knee:

Ha, Ha. You've got about another 17 hours before I do my post...