Editing Research/new digital reading experiences (section)

===  ===

<span id="typeface-options"></span>
==== Typeface options ====

We first experimented with ChatGPT to suggest typefaces, but the results were disappointingly generic. It proposed the typeface ‘Trajan’ for ''Marcus Aurelius''. Could it be more cliché?

[[File:MarcusAureliusTypeface.png]]

We decided to rely on our own knowledge and turn to [https://fonts.google.com/ Google Fonts], which offers high-quality typefaces that are free to use. We initially chose [https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Source+Serif+4 ''Source Serif 4''], a variable font available through the platform. Its availability on Google Fonts makes it easily accessible, simple to embed in websites, and well optimized for screen use. However, the result was not ideal: when words were emphasized, the increase in weight also caused them to expand in width. This made the text appear overly busy and ultimately reduced its readability.

We then discovered ‘Uniwidth fonts’, sometimes also called “equal-width”, “duplexed” or “multiplexed” typefaces. Uniwidth typefaces are proportionally-spaced typefaces, but every character occupies the same space across different cuts or weights. What this means in practice is that no matter which weight you set your text in, it will never change its length or cause text to reflow. It addressed the issue by maintaining a consistent width for the words without altering the length of the sentence. This provided a dynamic and visually pleasing effect to the text.

[[File:codepen-non-uniwidth.gif|300px]] [[File:codepen_uniwidth.gif|300px]]

Font chosen: [https://www.recursive.design/ '''''Recursive'''''] Designed by [https://fonts.google.com/?query=Arrow%20Type Arrow Type],  [https://fonts.google.com/?query=Stephen%20Nixon Stephen Nixon.] It proved to be an excellent fit.

<span id="technology"></span>