Sans-serif

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	Sans-serif font
	Serif font
	Serif font (red serifs)

In typography, a sans-serif or sans serif (sometimes just sans) typeface is one that does not have the small features called "serifs" at the end of strokes. The term comes from the French word sans, meaning "without".

In print, sans-serif fonts are more typically used for headlines than for body text. The conventional wisdom is that serifs help guide the eye along the lines in large blocks of text. Sans-serifs however have acquired considerable acceptance for body text in Europe.

Sans-serif fonts have become the de facto standard for body text on-screen, especially online because electronic screens (computer monitor or otherwise) provide a cleaner and more legible rendering of sans-serif fonts than they do for serif fonts. This is also true of typography on television; one will rarely see serif fonts used on a TV channel due to the flickering which can easily occur when they are employed.

Before the term “sans-serif” became standard in English typography, a number of other terms had been used. One of these outmoded terms for sans serif was gothic, which is still used in Japanese typography and sometimes seen in font names like “New Century Gothic”.

Sans-serif fonts are sometimes, especially in older documents, used as a device for emphasis, due to their typically blacker type color.

[edit] Classification

For the purposes of type classification sans-serif designs broadly divide into four major groups:

• Grotesque, early sans-serif designs, such as Grotesque or Royal Gothic.

• Neo-grotesque or Transitional, modern designs such as Standard, Helvetica, Arial, and Univers. These are the most common sans-serif fonts. They are relatively straight in appearance and have less line width variation than Humanist sans-serif typefaces. Transitional sans-serif is sometimes called "anonymous sans-serif" due to its relatively plain appearance.

• Humanist (Johnston, Gill Sans, Frutiger, and Optima, a.k.a. Zapf Humanist). These are the most calligraphic of the sans-serif typefaces, with some variation in line width and more readability than other sans-serif fonts.

• Geometric (Avant Garde, Century Gothic, Futura, Gotham, or Spartan). As their name suggests, Geometric sans-serif typefaces are based on geometric shapes. Note the optically circular letter "O" and the simple construction of the lowercase letter "a". Geometric sans-serif fonts have a very modern look and feel.

Other commonly used sans-serif fonts include Akzidenz Grotesk, Franklin Gothic, Lucida Sans, MS Sans Serif, Myriad, Optima, Tahoma, Trebuchet MS and Verdana.

Note that in some sans-serif fonts, such as Arial, the capital-i and lowercase-L appear exactly identical. Verdana, however, keeps them distinct due to the fact that Verdana's capital-i, as an exception, has serifs.

[edit] See also

• List of Sans Serif typefaces
• Serif
• Roman type
• Italic type
• Monospace
• Emphasis (typography)
• The British literary spoof island San Serriffe