1---
  2title: "New fonts & site changes"
  3description: "New fonts, more interesting typography, "
  4author: Amolith
  5cover: /assets/pngs/editor.png
  6date: 2020-07-19T01:43:11-04:00
  7draft: false
  8categories:
  9  - Meta
 10tags:
 11  - Fonts
 12  - Typography
 13---
 14
 15I just got a couple of new (and rather expensive) fonts. So far, I'm
 16incredibly happy with them and think it was money well-spent for a few
 17reasons. Created by [Matthew
 18Butterick,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Butterick)
 19[Valkyrie](https://mbtype.com/fonts/valkyrie/) and
 20[Concourse](https://mbtype.com/fonts/concourse/) are simply beautiful. I
 21don't know which I like more but they both have their places on this
 22website and will find their way onto others in the future. Because
 23Concourse is a [sans-serif,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sans-serif)
 24it will be the default used all across Secluded.Site. Valkyrie is a
 25[serif font](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serif) and, though the type
 26seems to be losing its place on the web, I think it adds a lot when
 27reading content that's focused on a narrative rather than simply being
 28informative. Because of that, it will be used for my posts about [pipe
 29smoking](/categories/pipe-smoking/) and [Dungeons &
 30Dragons.](/categories/dungeons-dragons/) I might come up with other
 31categories where Valkyrie fits as well but it will likely remain limited
 32to those two.
 33
 34In addition to simply changing the fonts, I've also modified some styles
 35on the site. Headers (such as the title of this post) are now in proper
 36small caps[^1] and I did some work to improve font size relative to the
 37content width. Previously, the text was smaller than I would have liked
 38which meant longer lines; there are some studies[^2] indicating that
 39lines with a lower character count, while decreasing reading speed,[^3]
 40are generally more comfortable and hold the reader's attention more
 41effectively. The width hasn't changed but the size has increased and
 42thus decreased the number of characters per line.
 43
 44One of the reasons I decided to buy the fonts was simply that I love the
 45way they look and they have a lot of
 46[features](https://mbtype.com/fonts/concourse/features.html) I wanted.
 47In addition to that, however, I also wanted to support Matthew. His
 48book, *[Practical Typography](https://practicaltypography.com/)* is an
 49amazing resource for anyone that does anything with text. He has put a
 50massive amount of work into it and simply [asks readers to
 51pay.](https://practicaltypography.com/why-you-should-pay.html) There is
 52no pay*wall* and no ads either; it's completely supported by readers.
 53There are a few [ways to
 54contribute](https://practicaltypography.com/how-to-pay-for-this-book.html)
 55and one of them is buying his fonts. Interestingly enough, if you read
 56his [first,](https://practicaltypography.com/economics-year-one.html)
 57[second,](https://practicaltypography.com/effluents-influence-affluence.html)
 58and [third](https://practicaltypography.com/to-pay-or-not-to-pay.html)
 59year summaries, more people bought his fonts for a higher price than
 60simply paid him directly:
 61
 62> What’s most interesting to me, however, is that so many more readers
 63> were willing to buy a font license (at $59–299) than to make a direct
 64> payment (at $5–10). Don’t get me wrong—I’m utterly grateful. But it’s
 65> counterintuitive: I never expected that the cheaper option would be so
 66> much less popular. Economists, I invite your explanations.
 67>
 68> — *[The Economics of a Web-based Book: Year
 69> One](https://practicaltypography.com/economics-year-one.html)*
 70
 71I won't speculate as to why but it is thought-provoking. Regardless, his
 72approach is very similar to that of any developer who creates open
 73source software. They pour their time and energy into projects they
 74might get no compensation for and rely on the community to fund their
 75efforts. I have a *great* deal of respect for these people and try to
 76support them whenever I'm able. $200 is a small price for two incredible
 77fonts in addition to *Practical Typography*!
 78
 79[^1]: Small caps are a font style where the letters that would otherwise
 80    be lower case are a shorter version of the upper case form. Many
 81    people simulate small caps by reducing the font size of regular
 82    capital letters to that of lower case characters but the results are
 83    too tall and their vertical lines too thin; they've only been scaled
 84    down. *Proper* small caps are an additional set of letters added to
 85    a font file as [OpenType
 86    features.](https://practicaltypography.com/opentype-features.html)
 87    For a comparison, see the related page on *[Practical
 88    Typography.](https://practicaltypography.com/small-caps.html)*
 89[^2]: I took mental note when reading an article about it but have since
 90    forgotten what it was and can't find it again. There are, however,
 91    various other sources, such as *[The Elements of Typographic Style
 92    Applied to the Web](http://webtypography.net/2.1.2)* and
 93    *[Readability: the Optimal Line
 94    Length.](https://baymard.com/blog/line-length-readability)*
 95[^3]: A [rather short
 96    study](https://web.archive.org/web/20170918212943/http://psychology.wichita.edu/surl/usabilitynews/72/LineLength.asp)
 97    from Wichita State University found that increased line length
 98    resulted in greater reading efficiency. However, there were no
 99    significant effects on comprehension and the preference for longer
100    or shorter lines was fairly evenly distributed.