Can you tell Helvetica from Arial?

[Bosola]

Take the test here.

I got 18/20.

There's a few simple rules for telling them apart, but I'll leave that until after you've taken the test.

[Kudistos Megistos]

19/20. I fucked up the Mattel one, but other than that it was easy; Helvetica and Arial often look completely different when they're next to each other.

Whilst it's true that you can get nearly all of them just by following a few simple rules, most of them can be worked out using just one.

As a general rule, it's harder to tell the consonants apart, with a couple of big exceptions.

[Bosola]

There is another rule.

It relates to the sorts of angles either form uses.

Look at the 'c's, 'e's and 't's to see what I mean.

[Kudistos Megistos]

There is another rule.

It relates to the sorts of angles either form uses.

Look at the 'c's, 'e's and 't's to see what I mean.

That was the rule I was talking about; whenever I got into a sticky situation, it helped me out. Except for the Mattel incident because there were no letters that were affected by it.

[Covarr]

18/20. I missed MATTEL and STAPLES.

Whilst it's true that you can get nearly all of them just by following a few simple rules, most of them can be worked out using just one.

For me, that rule is: the one that looks better is Helvetica. I know the more advanced rules involving angles and curvature, but in general I just asked myself "which one do I like better" and the answer was almost consistently Helvetica (I only used angles and whatnot to double check before submitting my answers).

But in general, Helvetica just seems fuller, more fluid, and neater.

[Kudistos Megistos]

18/20. I missed MATTEL and STAPLES.

You should have been able to get Staples by looking at the Ss. As with other letters, they have horizontal stroke cuts in Helvetica and slanted ones in Arial. After looking at Mattel, I noticed that the upper-case Ms are wider in Helvetica.

For me, that rule is: the one that looks better is Helvetica.

You can't do it like that! That makes it too easy!

[Bosola]

Basically, Arial's angles are diagonal, whereas Helvetica's are perpendicular. Look at the following letters - I've placed Helvetica on the left, and Arial on the right:



See how the tail of Helvetica's 'e' has a straight edge, whereas Arial's is at an angle? Note how a t's top is straight in Helvetica, diagonal in Arial? That's exactly what I mean. Overall, perdeniculars are much stronger in Helvetica. The G's well-defined right angle, and the a's extended tail are all hallmarks of this.

[sithlord48]

i got a 10/20 , the same as random selection.

[Kudistos Megistos]

i got a 10/20 , the same as random selection.

Typical Linux font rendering.

[Gemini]

19/20, missed only the TOYOTA one.

[sithlord48]

i got a 10/20 , the same as random selection.

Typical Linux font rendering.

i was on win7 when i did the test...

[jeffdamann]

Im currently drunk and got 20/20 using the things you guys just said about angles and the fact that Helvetica is a lot more bolder than arial.

[Cloudef]

20/20

i got a 10/20 , the same as random selection.

Typical Linux font rendering.

Yeah especially when they are images with a font name on image path to avoid rendering the text with wrong fonts.

[The Seer of Shadows]

Guessed the "MATTEL" one and got it right.  Guessed the "TOYOTA" one and wasn't so lucky.

Overall Score: 19/20, dammit!

You can cheat so easily.  Just check the image url

[Kudistos Megistos]

Yeah especially when they are images with a font name on image path to avoid rendering the text with wrong fonts.

I'm well aware that they're images (otherwise the site obviously wouldn't work due to the majority of PC users not having Helvetica installed). But that's how bad the font rendering is. It even messes up images; that doesn't even make sense, but somehow it happens.

i was on win7 when i did the test...

Traitor! What would rms think?! He'd be sure to interject! Before long, you'll be making proprietary save editors and stealing people's freedoms!

And Windows' native font rendering is bad too. gdipp master race reporting in

[sithlord48]

Traitor! What would rms think?! He'd be sure to interject! Before long, you'll be making proprietary save editors and stealing people's freedoms!

lol , i just use that machine to compile projects that i need to make for windows. like my current secret project. i was bored waiting for Black chocobo to compile and started to browse the forum. i can take the "test " on my mac too if you feel that has better rendering , see i need each os to compile for them since cross compiling can get tricky.

[Cloudef]

But that's how bad the font rendering is. It even messes up images; that doesn't even make sense, but somehow it happens.

Sounds like driver issue. Oh the wonderful world of Linux drivers. Sadly not everything is perfect. People are dying and intel/ati(Open drivers are improving the situation, right!?) users fonts are not rendering correctly

[Kudistos Megistos]

But that's how bad the font rendering is. It even messes up images; that doesn't even make sense, but somehow it happens.

Sounds like driver issue. Oh the wonderful world of Linux drivers. Sadly not everything is perfect. People are dying and intel/ati(Open drivers are improving the situation, right!?) users fonts are not rendering correctly

Let me just check something:

You know that I was kidding, right?