Update - These changes are now live!
TL;DR We’re shipping system fonts as our default font stack. We plan to do this on May 10th, 2021.
What?
We’re planning on specifying system fonts on Stack Overflow and the Stack Exchange Network. On macOS and iOS, you’ll see things set in San Francisco. On Wi...
Due to the perceived difference in readability, from now on, I may prefer the chat — with its unchanged typography — over the website, for my activities on AskUbuntu... #fontLoyalism
#myScreenMyFont #howWasTheOldFontCalled\,Again\?
#fontLoyalistas
@ArchismanPanigrahi iz yuo kidding, the entire stackexchange had switched! Including stacks with their dedicated theming!
It will be an... interesting moment to go up to the SE design department, and explain them that (some?) Ubuntu people don't enjoy reading the site in Ubuntu font.
Not all sites changed. physics.stackexchange.com did not change at all. In Unix & Linux, the font of the main text of the Q&A changed, but the title font did not change.
How do you like the worldbuilding SE in Ubuntu font?
They say: "switching to system fonts"; Well system font means that in Firefox, the default font appears to be "DejaVu Serif". That's a system font, and a reading-optimized one, at that. They simply had overridden that sensible default with an <del>unfitting</del> way less fitting one.
@ArchismanPanigrahi If the font is not installed on a machine, then they won't be affected, I think.
This is the font stack they seem to have used: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", "Ubuntu", "Roboto", "Noto Sans", "Droid Sans", sans-serif
It is evaluated as priority of preferences, meaning, it starts on the left, and if one is not available, it tries the next one to its right. If none of those were found, it settles at the rightmost one (meaning, last one; fallback): sans-serif
I must correct myself: while Firefox's default font indeed appears to be "DejaVu Serif", I made the mistake of calling it a sensible default for generic reading purposes...
--> The thing is: for reading long paragraphs, a "sans-serif" type font is (known in the industry for being) more ergonomic. --> An example of that — to stay as close to the originally named one — would be "DejaVu Sans".
