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