[HN Gopher] Tiresias typeface
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       Tiresias typeface
        
       Author : Tajnymag
       Score  : 78 points
       Date   : 2021-05-22 12:08 UTC (2 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (en.wikipedia.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (en.wikipedia.org)
        
       | sixothree wrote:
       | What is the correct pronunciation of tiresias?
        
         | cgio wrote:
         | Tea-re-sea-ass
        
           | StavrosK wrote:
           | This is correct for the Greek pronunciation, though "re"
           | should be read with a short "e", which is impossible in
           | English, so "ray" is more accurate. The English is
           | /taI'ri:si@s/, as above, I guess.
           | 
           | Tea-ray-SEA-ass
        
             | def_true_false wrote:
             | Isn't /taI/ supposed to sound like tie and /ti/ like tea?
             | And the short e would be /e/, as in check, bet or ten?
             | Perhaps I'm missing something, my English pronunciation is
             | pretty inconsistent.
        
               | StavrosK wrote:
               | Yes, that is exactly right. The IPA was meant to be how
               | it's pronounced in English, the phonetic is how it's
               | pronounced in Greek, except the e is as you say.
        
         | thih9 wrote:
         | I guess it's the same as in Tiresias (/taI'ri:si@s/) [1], the
         | blind prophet from Greek mythology.
         | 
         | [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiresias
        
       | laputan_machine wrote:
       | I think this is the font used in the BBC's Red Button
        
       | jacobmischka wrote:
       | I'd be interested to read more on what makes it particularly
       | well-suited for impaired vision.
       | 
       | Unlike Comic Sans, which is noticeably distinct almost to the
       | point of being displeasing, this just looks like a relatively
       | standard sans-serif typeface.
        
         | falcolas wrote:
         | It doesn't need to be noticeably distinct from other fonts, it
         | needs to be legible - each glyph needs to be clearly distinct
         | from every other glyph, and still recognizable when blurry.
         | 
         | That said, IMO, it fails the 0/O usecase, though it passes the
         | 1/I/l usecase.
        
           | nerdponx wrote:
           | Could you fix it with a dotted 0?
        
             | falcolas wrote:
             | Dotted or slashed, yup.
        
               | kwhitefoot wrote:
               | Please don't use slashed O because then it is hard to
               | distinguish the Norwegian/Danish character:
               | 
               | "O (or minuscule: o) is a vowel and a letter used in the
               | Danish, Norwegian, Faroese, and Southern Sami languages.
               | It is mostly used as a representation of mid front
               | rounded vowels, such as [o] and [oe], except for Southern
               | Sami where it is used as an [oe] diphthong."
               | 
               | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%98
        
       | philippantoni wrote:
       | Funny seeing this linked here. Tiresias is honestly a fairly
       | unremarkable typeface with a lot of marketing talk, heavily
       | inspired by earlier humanist sans-serifs like FF Meta, but I
       | remember seeing it as a UI font across several different
       | manufacturers of TVs and set-top boxes (Sony, Panasonic, probably
       | others) some years ago and finding it curious that they used the
       | same (obscure) font. Maybe it was part of some embedded OS, or
       | they just managed to sell some big companies on it.
        
       | mFixman wrote:
       | It's 2021, why are sans-serif typefaces still the most common way
       | to read text? My 4K monitor can render detailed serif typefaces
       | at very small sizes which are nicer and more legible than most of
       | the text in the internet.
        
         | zapzupnz wrote:
         | If only the world had both your eyes and monitor. I have a
         | large 5K display and don't find serif text nearly as easy to
         | read, especially at small sizes, unless it's printed out on
         | paper.
        
         | _Wintermute wrote:
         | Because most people aren't using 4k monitors.
        
       | keiferski wrote:
       | Not linked to in the Wiki article for some reason.
       | 
       |  _In Greek mythology, Tiresias ( /taI'ri:si@s/; Greek: Teiresias,
       | Teiresias) was a blind prophet of Apollo in Thebes, famous for
       | clairvoyance and for being transformed into a woman for seven
       | years. He was the son of the shepherd Everes and the nymph
       | Chariclo.[1] Tiresias participated fully in seven generations in
       | Thebes, beginning as advisor to Cadmus himself._
       | 
       | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiresias
        
         | amazing_stories wrote:
         | Added. Thanks for the reference.
        
       | ruph123 wrote:
       | According to this video which consulted the available research on
       | the topic (and has links to the actual research papers in the
       | description), the legibility of Tiresias for people with impaired
       | vision is unfounded (Can't look for the specific research right
       | now because I'm on the go):
       | 
       | https://youtu.be/41i9EN9l8uc
        
         | deathwarmedover wrote:
         | I had also seen criticism of it here:
         | https://screenfont.ca/learn/
        
       | fao_ wrote:
       | In the same vein it's worth checking out Atkinson Hyperlegible --
       | a typeface that I find utterly beautiful and I've personally
       | found legible at extremely tiny sizes.
       | 
       | https://brailleinstitute.org/freefont
       | 
       | I really, really want a monospace version, and while they've made
       | the font "free software" (someone I know emailed them to double
       | check the license), I lack the necessary knowledge to do that
        
         | intrepidhero wrote:
         | That's neat! I went looking for same thing. Checking out
         | iosevka [0][1] now.
         | 
         | [0] http://thedarnedestthing.com/iosevka%20hyperlegible
         | 
         | [1]
         | https://github.com/sdothum/dotfiles/tree/master/fonts/.fonts
        
           | noir_lord wrote:
           | I've used iosevka for years - the thing that makes it truly
           | brilliant is you can configure it however you want based on
           | the characters you prefer.
           | 
           | I have iosevka-<myname>.ttf on all my machines with it tuned
           | just how I like it.
        
         | falcolas wrote:
         | I really like that font. Nice find.
        
         | zozbot234 wrote:
         | > I really, really want a monospace version, and while they've
         | made the font "free software" (someone I know emailed them to
         | double check the license), I lack the necessary knowledge to do
         | that
         | 
         | OCR-B font has been around for many decades and doesn't seem
         | all that different in style.
        
           | fao_ wrote:
           | Font design is all about the subtleties. I'm pretty sure most
           | discrete classes of fonts look the same, distinguished by how
           | they handle specific characters, and style and position the
           | letters.
        
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       (page generated 2021-05-24 23:02 UTC)