Calibri Font Family

Bartholomew · May 9, 2008

Hey all,

So anyone with Vista or Office 2007 has undoubtedly discovered, at some point, that they have a new font called Calibri.

It is a very attractive, san-serif font that has slightly rounded edges, and is absolutely wonderful for reading on screens.

My question: is it an evenly spaced font, like Courier? Could it be used in place of courier or TNR for the standard submission font?

scottVee · May 9, 2008

Hi. I haven't seen it. But if the letter "i" is the same width (with its whitespaces) as the letter "m", then it's a "monospaced" font like Courier.

However, if an editor asks for Courier, use Courier. Or Times if that's what they ask for. Why get fancy and try to do it your own way? While doing editorial work, I've seen some bizarre-looking manuscripts, and editors who stare at hundreds of pages of ink per day may not appreciate something that's suddenly thinner or thicker, or needs a change of lighting to come into focus. Now that I've been having endless problems with eye strain, I'm starting to see where that comes from.

= scott

Bartholomew · May 10, 2008

scottVee said:
Hi. I haven't seen it. But if the letter "i" is the same width (with its whitespaces) as the letter "m", then it's a "monospaced" font like Courier.

However, if an editor asks for Courier, use Courier. Or Times if that's what they ask for. Why get fancy and try to do it your own way? While doing editorial work, I've seen some bizarre-looking manuscripts, and editors who stare at hundreds of pages of ink per day may not appreciate something that's suddenly thinner or thicker, or needs a change of lighting to come into focus. Now that I've been having endless problems with eye strain, I'm starting to see where that comes from.

= scott

I was talking about electronic submissions. TNR and Courier are both harsh to read on a screen, IMO, and this is really nice looking. I wish I could show you.

megan_d · May 10, 2008

you could take a screen shot?

Bartholomew · May 10, 2008

megan_d said:
you could take a screen shot?

But anywhere I hosted it would reduce the size to tragically unflattering and unreadable proportions.

dpaterso · May 10, 2008

A Google search for Calibri font reveals many samples and download links, here's one:

http://www.ascendercorp.com/msfonts/calibri.html

(Vista users should already have this font installed, check out your Windows\Fonts subdirectory.)

It looks like Verdana to me, which ain't monoproportional. Write using Calibri by all means, if your eyes like it, but best play safe and change your doc text to Times New Roman or Courier when it comes time to submit.

-Derek

Toothpaste · May 10, 2008

Exactly what I was going to say. Write in wingdings if it makes you happy, but then change it to one of the two fonts that we all KNOW are acceptable. I seriously cannot wrap my head around this whole font issue. It is remarkably simple.

If the agent/editor requests a font, use it. Otherwise use Courier or Times New Roman, both size 12.

Smiling Ted · May 10, 2008

Toothpaste said:
Exactly what I was going to say. Write in wingdings if it makes you happy, but then change it to one of the two fonts that we all KNOW are acceptable. I seriously cannot wrap my head around this whole font issue. It is remarkably simple.

If the agent/editor requests a font, use it. Otherwise use Courier or Times New Roman, both size 12.

Absolutely.

Especially since there is no guarantee that what is pleasing on your system will be pleasing on the editor's system, despite your best efforts.

Bartholomew · May 10, 2008

Smiling Ted said:
Absolutely.

Especially since there is no guarantee that what is pleasing on your system will be pleasing on the editor's system, despite your best efforts.

Twue, dat. T'ankies.

blacbird · May 10, 2008

Bartholomew said:
I was talking about electronic submissions. TNR and Courier are both harsh to read on a screen, IMO, and this is really nice looking. I wish I could show you.

Bolding above mine, to make a key point: Your opinion doesn't matter when it comes to submission, of any kind. You're not trying to please you; you're trying to please an editor. Pay attention to what the editor wants. If nothing is specified, use Courier or TNR; they're standard and acceptable everywhere.

caw

Matera the Mad · May 10, 2008

Calibri is not monospaced. Consolas is. But. NEVER use anything but the "standard" fonts for an electronic submission! Never! Even if you embed the font, thus making the manuscript file much larger than necessary, it is a big not-done. If you don't embed the font, and they don't have that font installed, they will not see that font, capiche? It's dangerous to assume that anyone else has on their computer exactly what you have, even if they don't specify fonts.

I see people pulling this kind of nonsense with webpages all the time. Their page looks so great on their screen, and it's sith on someone else's.

KTC · May 10, 2008

I don't bother with fonts. I never have. I don't care what the mechanics look like. I just care about what it reads like... what it says. I use TNR as that is what Word uses. I will change it according to guidelines when necessary, but it almost never is.

Bartholomew · May 10, 2008

KTC said:
I don't bother with fonts. I never have. I don't care what the mechanics look like. I just care about what it reads like... what it says. I use TNR as that is what Word uses. I will change it according to guidelines when necessary, but it almost never is.

Well, KTC has really brought up the heart of why I mention this at all---a lot of people use TNR because it is the default MS word font. Anyone who updates to office 2007 will discover that Calibri is the new default font. inevitably, this means editors are going to see some submissions in that font, just because there are writers amongst us who are never going to fiddle with typeface. TNR is ugly and hard to read and I've often suspected it is one of the submission default-to fonts BECAUSE it is MS word's first choice. Will this change with the big word processing software?

HeronW · May 11, 2008

Many/most web sites are very limited as to the fonts they have available imbedded for standard viewing. Unless the site you post on can imbed Calibri or Arnold Bocklin etc, keep the ms in something everyone can read whether they have that font on their comp or not: Arial, Times, Courier, etc.

You can see that list of fonts in IE or whatever browser you have by going to Tools: Internet Options: Tab--General and the Fonts list. You can set your viewing of the web pages in anything you have installed but the 'plain text fonts' are much more limited.

KTC · May 11, 2008

Bartholomew said:
Well, KTC has really brought up the heart of why I mention this at all---a lot of people use TNR because it is the default MS word font. Anyone who updates to office 2007 will discover that Calibri is the new default font. inevitably, this means editors are going to see some submissions in that font, just because there are writers amongst us who are never going to fiddle with typeface. TNR is ugly and hard to read and I've often suspected it is one of the submission default-to fonts BECAUSE it is MS word's first choice. Will this change with the big word processing software?

Okay... well this intrigues me. They actually changed the default font?! That would mean to me that this is the font that they will be requesting soon....

Bartholomew · May 11, 2008

KTC said:
Okay... well this intrigues me. They actually changed the default font?! That would mean to me that this is the font that they will be requesting soon....

If it happens, it won't be TOO soon. People are generally pretty darn slow about updating their MS Office products. I know computer labs at the school that still run a 1990 version of Word and Excel.

KTC · May 11, 2008

Bartholomew said:
If it happens, it won't be TOO soon. People are generally pretty darn slow about updating their MS Office products. I know computer labs at the school that still run a 1990 version of Word and Excel.

Yeah... I still have 2003. I thought I was pretty up to date. (-; Looking at the calendar, I'm shocked to see how old 2003 really is???

Bartholomew · May 11, 2008

KTC said:
Yeah... I still have 2003. I thought I was pretty up to date. (-; Looking at the calendar, I'm shocked to see how old 2003 really is???

Yep. I'll be interested to see if Microsoft successfully (and accidentally) dictates a new major font in major publisher's submission guidelines.

blacbird · May 11, 2008

Bartholomew said:
If it happens, it won't be TOO soon. People are generally pretty darn slow about updating their MS Office products.

For several bloody good reasons.

caw

Bartholomew · May 11, 2008

blacbird said:
For several bloody good reasons.

caw

Oh, I don't know. 2007's version is actually an improvement--smaller file sizes, more intuitive interface, less crashing. Microsoft usually makes pretty good Aps---it's their OS I can't stand.

Christine N. · May 11, 2008

That's what I was going to say - if the agent/editor doesn't have Word 2007, they won't be able to read the font. It IS a pretty font, but if you change it to TNR, the document becomes much longer. I actually have to remind myself to save new documents in 2003 instead of 2007 because then you get that .docx extension that no one can open.

Danger Jane · May 11, 2008

Christine N. said:
That's what I was going to say - if the agent/editor doesn't have Word 2007, they won't be able to read the font. It IS a pretty font, but if you change it to TNR, the document becomes much longer. I actually have to remind myself to save new documents in 2003 instead of 2007 because then you get that .docx extension that no one can open.

I'm pretty sure you can set it so the default is .doc. Don't ask me how, though

Calibri Font Family

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