Screenfont.ca

What’s new

2009.10.30
And we’re back online for another year thanks to Antonio Cavedoni.
2008.08.13
Report (from 2006) for Ascender Corp. and Microsoft on screenfonts for captioning now published.
2007.11.19
Tiny snippet on caption and subtitle fonts for HD-DVD and Blu-ray.
2007.08.21
We’re presenting at ATypI Brighton 2007: “Don’t show printouts to grannies and call that a test: Some scenarios for testing TV screenfonts.”
2007.05.10
Updated the list of designers working on our new fonts. Yes, it’s still happening, though the herd needed a cull to get us there
2006.11.29
What does the HDTV captioning spec say about typography? We have a legitimate copy of the CEA-708-C standard and have reviewed its sections on typography. It isn’t pretty
2006.11.12
Now that the Open & Closed Project has launched (see micropatronage), we can finally come out of the closet and stop saying we are part of “an upcoming project”
2006.07.27
We’re fed up with the British and their insistence on uncritically accepting junk science that purports to show Tiresias Screenfont as an acceptable captioning font. So we’re asking the U.K. broadcasting regulator to commission its own research – and its own fonts, if need be. (By the way, we have another font project in gestation)
2006.06.15
Dispelling the myth of caption size: Who says captions on an iPod Video would be too small? All the evidence – from real online captioning and by comparison with other media – proves the contrary
2006.02.23
2006.02.22
Finally: Our design critique of Tiresias Screenfont. What’s next? The Tiresias clone called Tioga, of course!
2006.02.14
It’s been a while, but we’re still fine-tuning the requirements for our first font set (yes, we’re still in the requirements stage), and the long-promised design critique of Tiresias is upcoming.
2005.10.03
Other people’s fonts: A critique of existing typefaces for HDTV (EIA-708) captioning. Typefoundries already offer font sets for high-definition TV, and there’s a great deal wrong with them
2005.09.26
Yeah, it’s been quiet for a while. What can we say? It was summer. Anyway, we really meant it when we said we were developing our first fonts, and now we can tell you who's doing the developing: Announcing Screenfont’s participating designers. And – can you believe it? – that’s only some of them
2005.08.02
What’s the difference between regular screenfonts and caption and subtitle fonts? An easy comparison table for people familiar with “classic” screenfonts
2005.07.21
Debunking the research on Tiresias Screenfont: Just what it says
2005.07.11
We commence the seemingly endless and Sisyphean task of debunking Tiresias with an interview with its chief researcher, John Gill
2005.06.30
We have begun development of our first font
Not wanted on the voyage: We won’t be presenting at ATypI Helsinki. Gotta make room for dem Finns, we suppose
2005.05.11
The first of Ten Questions for Joe Clark concerns screenfonts (and, inevitably, Tiresias)
Minor update to bibliography.
2005.04.29
Deficiencies in Line 21 caption rendering in software DVD players. An old one, but a good one
The grotesk as universal font: A bit of history as to why grotesks like Arial and Helvetica are taken as a sort of default typeface
2005.04.26
Ancient BBC “subtitling” font revealed: Richard Southall, codesigner of the classic BBC slabserif typeface, writes in with a history and some illustrations. A 15-year mystery solved!
2005.04.21
Bibliography significantly updated. Need research citations on caption and subtitle fonts? That page is a very good start
And now this page has its own newsfeed. (Thanks, Patrick!)
2005.04.14
Finally, what you’ve all been waiting for while we’re waiting for better fonts: An answer to the typographic question What fonts should we use in the meantime?
2005.03.21
Small update on EyeTV Line 21 captions translated into high definition (now with Vin Diesel and Ellen DeGeneres!).
We are aware that updates are happening more slowly than anticipated. The good news is that we are spending this time wining and designing typeface designers (with some provisional success). The bad news is that things are unlikely to speed up soon. We note the pressing need for a “What fonts do I use while I’m waiting for your fonts?” document, as well as a discursion on what exactly is wrong with Arial. We counsel patience.
2005.03.07
Today’s fonts updated. We explore the musical question “What’s wrong with using Web screenfonts for captions and subtitles?”
2005.02.16
Site launches – somewhat minimally, but launch it did nonetheless. We still need to add a print stylesheet and a bit more HTML. Then, of course, there’s content.

IE6 bug

Apparently, some installations of Internet Explorer 6 for Windows display this site incorrectly. We know the bug in question and think we have fixed it. If you see any display anomalies, let us know.