Notices by Marcin Wichary (mwichary@mastodon.online)

I think every designer should write a love letter to a font at least once in their lifetime.

This is mine: A 150-year-old font you have likely never heard of, and one you probably saw earlier today.

https://aresluna.org/the-hardest-working-font-in-manhattan/

@Canageek @mekkaokereke Oh, man, that’s Todd’s! I rode in it – I can confirm it’s very fun! (Coming from Europe, I love small cars. Alas, even cars in Europe are reportedly not immune from getting bigger these days.)

@jwz I like that we went to like DEFCON 2 already.

Ugh, I’m an idiot. Elsewhere in CSS on that page, “system” was redefined to point to a local Tahoma. It didn’t occur to me to look for that.

Not just me, but still perplexing? https://github.com/csstools/system-font-css/issues/22

@benetherington @jwz Yeah, I remember all moving to system-ui in CSS to solve for that, but still unsure how does system go to Tahoma on my Mac – would love to understand. I casually looked at Chromium code, but didn’t go far.

This is an example. I verified it’s “system” and specifically “system” that makes it go to Tahoma?!

Okay, kind of an embarrassing question.

“font-family: system” CSS declaration in websites on my computer in both Chrome and Safari renders in… Tahoma? Why?

I know “system-ui” is the way to go, but I cannot explain what I’m seeing and it bothers me.

I can’t believe that after 40 years someone finally identified “the most mysterious song on the internet” (a.k.a. “Like the wind” or “Blind the wind”), a pretty fun new wave banger from some time the 1980s.

This is a longer video from earlier in the year describing the whole journey, but not spoiling the result, in case you want to get to know the mystery first.

(I will link to the outcome in the second post.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBEoZ1heH-M

@aral I disagree in that “Maybe later” became so common it helps understand the specific nature of the dialog. “No” is more generic and could apply to many other system prompts, but seeing “Maybe later” makes it easy to click without worrying and reading the rest.

Plus, a lot more characters means it’s easier to target.

I thought that after the book I will stop caring, but I’m even more obsessed with Gorton now! Maybe I should turn it into a deep dive post or a talk or something.

This is earlier today at the airport.

@mausmalone It was! For engraving lenses.

@peachfront Yeah, they seem to chill out quickly – they even explained to me where else can I see it!

@anniegreens They told me what the numbers meant and where else I can find them. I was surprised. 😁

The hotel security was curious why I’m taking photos of hidden stairwell placards.

“This engraving font is named Gorton and is well over 100 years old! It was originally made for camera lenses in the U.K. It’s everywhere around you, usually in places like these.”

Has anyone written about how textual generative AI feels strangely close to toxic masculinity in some respects? The absolute confidence in everything stated, the lack of understanding of the consequences of getting that confidence wrong for important questions, the semi-gaslighty feeling when it “corrects” itself when you call it out on something. It so often feels like talking to someone one would despise and avoid in “real life.” I’m curious if anyone did some writing on this.

Working on my Config talk and trying this for the first time: explicitly writing out new things I am trying and learning, to celebrate being able to do all that.

Feeling pretty good about this bio, particularly the last bit. Hope to see you there!

What would you consider as the most recognizable bitmap fonts in tech history?

I’m imagining stuff like:
- the arcade/Atari font
- Chicago (Mac, then iPod)
- VCR/video equipment fonts
- Minecraft font
- IBM PC fonts (MDA, VGA, stuff like that)
- perhaps System font from Windows 3.x
- Commodore 64, just because of the sheer popularity of the machine

What am I missing?

Perhaps the best remote I have ever seen.