Microsoft improved typefaces

With the release of Microsoft Vista a couple of years ago, Microsoft introduced six new cleartype typefaces. The new font collection was also distributed with Office 2007, but if (like me) you’re still persisting with Windows XP, you may be missing out on some fine examples of typographical work:

If you want to know more about the user benefits of cleartype technology, see this page for more. In a nutshell, use this rough guide when comparing the new typefaces to the ones you’re probably using now:

• Calibri is a good replacement for Arial.
• Cambria is a good replacement for Georgia or Times New Roman.
• Candara is a good replacement for Trebuchet MS or Helvetica.
• Consolas is a good replacement for Lucida Console or Courier New.
• Constantia is a good replacement for Georgia or Palatino.
• Corbel is a good replacement for Verdana.

Microsoft offer the new fonts for free, as part of their Powerpoint Viewer 2007, so you don’t have to upgrade to Windows Vista to use them. Even if you uninstall Powerpoint Viewer 2007, the fonts will still remain on your system.