Chosen fonts on website not used on geocaching app

[+edexter]

Recently I have noticed that the font choices I make are not being reproduced on the geocaching or cachly apps..  For instance, I have been using Comic Sans MS but instead it looks like fancy cursive (directly below) rather than  Comic Sans MS (below that) I don't know what font is called but that is what appears on the app) It appears correctly on the website but not on the phone app.  Anyone know what is causing this?  And knows the solution?  Thanks,

edexter

 

Edited November 12 by edexter
spelling corrections and clarity

[+Max and 99]

It shows up correctly for me under webview.

[+edexter]

After reviewing the source code editing form, I noticed that despite the font choice of Comic Sans MS, what the code actually showed was "Comic Sans MS, cursive" which explains the flowery font format.  I tried editing that by deleting the "cursive" which then apparently defaulted to "Arial".  At least that's the font that appeared on the page.  Reviewing the source editor revealed that the font was still Comic Sans MS though it displayed as Arial. I then edited the text choosing Arial as the font which made no difference in either the appearance nor the source code (It still said Comic Sans MS).  At which point I gave up.  If anyone has any ideas about this, feel free to respond.

edexter

Edited November 12 by edexter
spelling

[+Viajero Perdido]

You can't count on named fonts being universally available.  "MS" in the name gives a hint, it's a Windows font.  My Android phone doesn't have it. Macs probably don't have it. 

 

The "cursive" is an auto-added fallback in case the named font isn't available.  In the example above, also on my phone, it's pretty ugly but it is cursive. 

 

Note that the internet likes to ridicule Comic Sans.  But it does look pretty good IMHO. 

 

PS, if my phone had a smarter browser (or it had a smarter user), I'd about:config it to map cursive to the standard font. But it's barely worth it for a few (inadvertently) designed-for-Windows cache pages. 

 

Edited November 13 by Viajero Perdido

[+capoaira]

I never tested it with my Linux system, but normally it is possible to download fonts. I'm not sure if it's possible on android too.

 

That not all devices have all fonts is normal, web developer therfore use to provide the font online. Unfortunately that is not possible for us on geocaching.com.

[+Viajero Perdido]

But should you spec a font?  I'd suggest no.  The font doesn't affect the content of a cache page, only the appearance.

 

The browser I use on the desktop, like most, lets me specify a font for all (in a perfect world) web pages.  Being a tinkerer, I chose one that's particularly easy on the eyes, and easy to read quickly.  Some users choose a dyslexia-friendly font (yep, it's a thing).  Some folks might need other types of extra-readable fonts.  You get the idea: let the user choose.  Unless you force a particular font (or try), these folks will get something that works for them.  

 

It's like the difference between EPUB and PDF.  My eReader is full of EPUBs (content), but I'll only load a PDF (content+form) if there's no other choice.

/soapbox

 

Edited November 14 by Viajero Perdido
Wrong smiley syntax, oh the humanity

[+edexter]

Thanks for the information about the lack of universiality of font availability on different devices.  That makes sense.  The "user friendly" cache page editor gives a choice of nine fonts and for some reason converts Comic Sans MS into cursive.  I specified Comic Sans MS becuase I think it looks good and is very readable on a phone or GPSr .  As you say, I've also read that "the internet doesn't like it" for aesthetic reasons, but looks good to me.  The cursive version does look terrible to me on a small form device, so I've changed the font to something more bland that apparently has "wider acceptance" across devices and as far as I know isn't converted to tiny squiggles.  

edexter

[+Viajero Perdido]

Perhaps if you spec'd "Comic Sans MS, sans-serif", it would show the good-looking (IMHO) font if available, or a default readable one if not. 

 

This is from memory (I'm on the phone; hard to look things up), but I believe that's the spelling of one of the guaranteed fallback options. 

 

Best of luck.  Your attention to detail will be appreciated, and will likely attract visitors to the cache ... per another recent thread on that subject.  

 

PS, if it's Groundspeak's editor that's adding ", cursive", here's a suggestion: do what I suggested in the first paragraph. The famous Comic Sans is more a sans-serif font than a cursive one. Nah, I'll bet they just bought a code library, so it's out of their hands. 

 

Edited November 15 by Viajero Perdido