A Better Franklin

I'VE TWEAKED the layout here with ITC Franklin Condensed from Webtype.

It's funny. My daughter always asks what's my favorite color, and I can never answer, 'cause I love them all. With color, it depends on context and it's all about combination. But a favorite font? You bet I've got one. It's Franklin Gothic, and especially Franklin Gothic Condensed. Has been for years.

For several years now I've used a licensed Franklin Gothic web font by someone other than Webtype here. It was good but not perfect.

Webtype's Franklin Condensed is as close to perfect as web fonts can come in October, 2011. (And as they improve it, the look and feel here will improve as well.) The font is so good that it emboldened me to apply it to other parts of the page that formerly had to make do with Helvetica. See, for instance, my footer. It's not a work of art, but it's now much more pleasant to read in every environment I've tested.

I'm still conservative about web fonts (primarily because of bandwidth issues); for now this site's body text is still set in Georgia, one of the world's most beautiful screen fonts as we all agree. I'm considering loading Palatino first, for those who have it on their systems, just to take a break from the Georgia Mafia without burdening users with an additional web font download, but I haven't committed yet.

The site is long overdue for a redesign: the last redesign (e.g. the current look and feel) was a retro tribute to the site's 1990s look. A new look is coming, but for the interim, I'm very grateful to my friends at Webtype for their craftsmanship.







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