What’s the difference between regular screenfonts and caption and subtitle fonts?
If you’re accustomed to the idea of screenfonts for your computer screen or your cellphone, what differences do you need to pay attention to when it comes to screenfonts for captions and subtitles? A handy guide for trainspotters and other obsessifs.
| Issue | “Classic” screenfonts | Captions & subtitles |
|---|---|---|
| Reading environment | Continuous (computers) or brief (cellphones) | Continuous, but words appear and disappear or scroll |
| Foregrounds | Typically black | Typically white or yellow |
| Backgrounds | Typically solid colour, usually white | Usually overlaid on moving images |
| Masking | Rare | Common (as with Line 21, teletext, HDTV) |
| Available resolutions | Usually moderate to high | Usually low |
| Inclusion | Usually intrinsic to the item (e.g., a written document) | Usually applied after initial creation (e.g., a movie subtitled in postproduction) |
| Typical typefaces | Custom-made | Reused print fonts |
| Luminous or reflective? | Usually luminous | Usually luminous, occasionally reflective |
| Eye motions | Normal saccadic reading with variations | Normal saccadic reading continually reset and disrupted |
| Reader skills | Usually nondisabled native speakers | Usually a person with a disability (as with captioning – deaf readers) or a second-language speaker (as with subtitling – readers in translation) |
| Reader control | Low to high (reader can often change size, sometimes font and colours) | Low (reader can rarely change any aspect) |
| Technology-induced limitations | Low (many characters and type attributes are available) | Medium (many characters [like accents] and type attributes [like italics, bold, and small caps] are unavailable) |
| Character encoding | Unicode or ISO | Custom (though Unicode usage is increasing) |
| Onscreen vs. offscreen | Onscreen | Usually onscreen, but sometimes viewed offscreen (as with a reflector) |
| Aliasing | Usually antialiased on modern computers, sometimes not | Usually not antialiased (chief counterexample: video players on computers) |
| Pixel shapes | Typically square | Square, round, or rectangular (with multiple aspect ratios) |
| Designer acumen | Medium to high | Low |
| Scientific research basis | Modest | Nearly nonexistent |
| Taken seriously? | Somewhat | No |
Version history
- 2005.08.02
- Posted.
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What’s the difference between regular screenfonts and caption and subtitle fonts?