System Font Change - Poll

FredOnline · 20 May 2016, 05:01 AM

The change in font today has a lot of people talking.

One comment was :

their support response to me was "most users have said they like it".

Shall we test that - here on the forum - with a poll?

To make it simple, you like it or you don't.

Poll is anonymous.

David · 20 May 2016, 05:25 AM

I voted that I like it but I don't really care.

jpzNFyPRL · 20 May 2016, 05:32 AM

The OP comment from support was through me.

I was really displeased in that the "tone" seemed to be one of "this is it - deal with it" and the supporting argument was "lots of people are commenting that they like it".

This is an untenable stance to me for something so vital as email. I love using the native app for functionality, but I really can not get on with the font. There's just no compelling reason why we can't have a "classic mode" with the original font and/or an option to always just use the system font of the OS in use.

I can hack my way around this on Desktop, but on mobile I'm stuck with whatever features FM implements sadly.

:-(

This is not a "free service" and I would sure appreciate a bit more flexibility and care for inquiries about something as substantial as the Font choices, which literally "are" the interface for email.

gareth · 20 May 2016, 09:05 AM

New font looks extremely wishy-washy on Ubuntu/Chromium, Firefox slightly less so, but only slightly.

It also seems to be a lighter shade of grey (and smaller font size?) which makes reading on the web interface difficult for me.

Please would you undo this change or provide the old font as an option somehow?

Thanks
Gareth

Terry · 20 May 2016, 09:46 AM

It looks unprofessional and crappy.....why the change ?

jpzNFyPRL · 20 May 2016, 09:53 AM

They just added the ability in Settings to choose your system font - I'm hopeful we can get a "theme" at some point that puts it back exactly how it was "yesterday" basically though.

gareth · 20 May 2016, 12:13 PM

1. Does anyone know what font FM were using until yesterday?

2. I'm confused. I chose "system font" in FM web interface settings but after a game of whatthefont it seems to be using Roboto, which I do have installed but not set as a browser default, nor any system-wide default that I can see. This applies on both Firefox and Chromium on Ubuntu 14.04.4. Any ideas why that should be? Looks from here as if "system font" = "Roboto"!

rnkn · 20 May 2016, 01:34 PM

The default Source Sans Pro font is very ugly, but being able to switch to the system font (San Francisco for people with taste) is wonderful.

Maybe FastMail chose Source Sans Pro so when you change to system font the contrast from ugly to beautiful has added amazing?

FredOnline · 20 May 2016, 02:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David

I voted that I like it but I don't really care.

You do know it isn't compulsory to vote, David?

gareth · 20 May 2016, 03:31 PM

Now we need someone who doesn't care to vote 'don't like' so they cancel eachother out

17pm · 20 May 2016, 03:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terry

It looks unprofessional and crappy.....why the change ?

Absolutely agree with this.

gareth · 20 May 2016, 04:19 PM

A serious question though, how is the "system font" detected as it doesn't seem to be a browser preference, or maybe something [else] is broken on Ubuntu?

robn · 20 May 2016, 04:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gareth

A serious question though, how is the "system font" detected as it doesn't seem to be a browser preference, or maybe something [else] is broken on Ubuntu?

There actually isn't (yet) a cross-platform way to request the system font. This is the CSS font-family string we use when the "use system font" setting is selected:

Code:

"-apple-system",BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI","Roboto","Oxygen","Ubuntu","Cantarell","Fira Sans","Droid Sans","Helvetica Neue",sans-serif

Your browser uses the first one it finds. If you're using the normal fonts that come with your system, this should choose the right one. If you've installed another font that's ahead in the list, it will get used instead. This list is generally accepted to be the most reliable way to get the system font, but of course it can't account for every variation.

OS X has a "magic" font called -apple-system, for which the font system always uses the configured system font. There efforts underway to standardise this value, but its not there yet.

On Linux it should be possible to use fontconfig to create a "virtual" font called "-apple-system" that maps to something else, but actually setting that up is requires knowing how to actually drive fontconfig. I'm going to look into it sometime for my own curiosity (I use Linux on my laptop).

Looking at that list, I think it might be workable to move Roboto down the list between Fira and Droid, but I'm not sure (I'm actually really not a UI guy). I'll run it by the UI team on Monday.

gareth · 20 May 2016, 05:49 PM

Thanks Rob that's interesting. I would suggest that Roboto doesn't work well on large screens at small sizes (same with source sans pro for me really) and would plead for Roboto to appear after Droid Sans if that wouldn't set a cat amongst the pigeons

Many thanks
G

melomac · 20 May 2016, 05:49 PM

About the poll, I had to say it took me time (1 day) to get used to Source Sans Pro, and I now can't go back to System Font.

That System Font looks so obsolete to me.

https://xkcd.com/1172/

View Poll Results: System Font Change - Poll
Like it	27	57.45%
Don't like it	20	42.55%
Voters: 47. You may not vote on this poll

20 May 2016, 05:01 AM	#1
FredOnline The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Manchester UK Posts: 2,616	System Font Change - Poll The change in font today has a lot of people talking. One comment was : their support response to me was "most users have said they like it". Shall we test that - here on the forum - with a poll? To make it simple, you like it or you don't. Poll is anonymous.

20 May 2016, 05:49 PM	#15
melomac Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Posts: 23	About the poll, I had to say it took me time (1 day) to get used to Source Sans Pro, and I now can't go back to System Font. That System Font looks so obsolete to me. https://xkcd.com/1172/ Last edited by melomac : 20 May 2016 at 06:00 PM.

20 May 2016, 05:25 AM	#2
David Ultimate Contributor Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Canada. Posts: 10,355	I voted that I like it but I don't really care.

20 May 2016, 05:32 AM	#3
jpzNFyPRL Junior Member Join Date: May 2016 Posts: 14	The OP comment from support was through me. I was really displeased in that the "tone" seemed to be one of "this is it - deal with it" and the supporting argument was "lots of people are commenting that they like it". This is an untenable stance to me for something so vital as email. I love using the native app for functionality, but I really can not get on with the font. There's just no compelling reason why we can't have a "classic mode" with the original font and/or an option to always just use the system font of the OS in use. I can hack my way around this on Desktop, but on mobile I'm stuck with whatever features FM implements sadly. :-( This is not a "free service" and I would sure appreciate a bit more flexibility and care for inquiries about something as substantial as the Font choices, which literally "are" the interface for email.

20 May 2016, 09:05 AM	#4
gareth Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: UK Posts: 190	New font looks extremely wishy-washy on Ubuntu/Chromium, Firefox slightly less so, but only slightly. It also seems to be a lighter shade of grey (and smaller font size?) which makes reading on the web interface difficult for me. Please would you undo this change or provide the old font as an option somehow? Thanks Gareth

20 May 2016, 09:46 AM	#5
Terry The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: VK4 Posts: 3,029	It looks unprofessional and crappy.....why the change ?

20 May 2016, 09:53 AM	#6
jpzNFyPRL Junior Member Join Date: May 2016 Posts: 14	They just added the ability in Settings to choose your system font - I'm hopeful we can get a "theme" at some point that puts it back exactly how it was "yesterday" basically though.

20 May 2016, 12:13 PM	#7
gareth Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: UK Posts: 190	1. Does anyone know what font FM were using until yesterday? 2. I'm confused. I chose "system font" in FM web interface settings but after a game of whatthefont it seems to be using Roboto, which I do have installed but not set as a browser default, nor any system-wide default that I can see. This applies on both Firefox and Chromium on Ubuntu 14.04.4. Any ideas why that should be? Looks from here as if "system font" = "Roboto"!

20 May 2016, 01:34 PM	#8
rnkn Member Join Date: Nov 2013 Posts: 61	The default Source Sans Pro font is very ugly, but being able to switch to the system font (San Francisco for people with taste) is wonderful. Maybe FastMail chose Source Sans Pro so when you change to system font the contrast from ugly to beautiful has added amazing?

20 May 2016, 03:31 PM	#10
gareth Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: UK Posts: 190	Now we need someone who doesn't care to vote 'don't like' so they cancel eachother out

20 May 2016, 04:19 PM	#12
gareth Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: UK Posts: 190	A serious question though, how is the "system font" detected as it doesn't seem to be a browser preference, or maybe something [else] is broken on Ubuntu?