{"title":"The font of chemical knowledge","authors":"Allan Blackman","doi":"10.1038/s41557-024-01621-x","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><b>To the Editor —</b> The concept of font was not something that required consideration in the earliest alchemical manuscripts, as these were handwritten. A certain Herr Gutenberg, however, paved the way for the development of fonts, and we are now awash with them.</p><p>Sadly, more and more journals are now choosing to utilize sans serif fonts. Because the most important purpose of writing is clear and unambiguous communication, I have some reservations regarding this. And the reasons for my disapproval can be found on the Periodic Table. Looking at all 118 elemental symbols, there are some where the distinction between their representations in serif and sans serif fonts is crucial; these are Al, Cl, In, I, Ir, Tl, and Fl. For example, Fig. 1c depicts the chemical formula of aluminium iodide in Times New Roman and Arial fonts; the former shows an obvious difference between the ‘l’ of Al and the ‘I’ of I, thanks to their respective distinguishing serifs, but the latter does not — the ‘l’ and ‘I’ now appear essentially identical, save for a tiny difference in widths.</p>","PeriodicalId":18909,"journal":{"name":"Nature chemistry","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":19.2000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Nature chemistry","FirstCategoryId":"92","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-024-01621-x","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"CHEMISTRY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
To the Editor — The concept of font was not something that required consideration in the earliest alchemical manuscripts, as these were handwritten. A certain Herr Gutenberg, however, paved the way for the development of fonts, and we are now awash with them.
Sadly, more and more journals are now choosing to utilize sans serif fonts. Because the most important purpose of writing is clear and unambiguous communication, I have some reservations regarding this. And the reasons for my disapproval can be found on the Periodic Table. Looking at all 118 elemental symbols, there are some where the distinction between their representations in serif and sans serif fonts is crucial; these are Al, Cl, In, I, Ir, Tl, and Fl. For example, Fig. 1c depicts the chemical formula of aluminium iodide in Times New Roman and Arial fonts; the former shows an obvious difference between the ‘l’ of Al and the ‘I’ of I, thanks to their respective distinguishing serifs, but the latter does not — the ‘l’ and ‘I’ now appear essentially identical, save for a tiny difference in widths.
致编辑--最早的炼金术手稿是手写的,因此不需要考虑字体的概念。然而,古腾堡先生(Herr Gutenberg)为字体的发展铺平了道路,现在我们的生活中充斥着大量的字体。由于写作最重要的目的是清晰明确的交流,我对此持保留意见。我不赞成的理由可以在元素周期表中找到。在所有 118 个元素符号中,有一些符号在有衬线字体和无衬线字体中的区别至关重要,它们是 Al、Cl、In、I、Ir、Tl 和 Fl。例如,图 1c 用 Times New Roman 和 Arial 字体显示了碘化铝的化学式;前者的 "l "和 "I "之间有明显的区别,这要归功于它们各自不同的衬线,但后者则不然--"l "和 "I "现在看起来基本相同,只是在宽度上有细微差别。
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