[Oberon] Re (2): font-family for a source.

[Hans Klaver]

peter at easthope.ca wrote:

> From hklaver at dds.nl  Tue Jul 25 01:44:12 2017
>> ... two excellent books: The Oberon System by Martin Reiser and 
>> Object-Oriented Programming in Oberon-2 by Hanspeter M?ssenb?ck. These 
>> books are the two best typeset Oberon books there are (imho). 
> 
> The source Text in Reiser & Wirth's _Programming In Oberon_ has serifs 
> and is legible.  But I understand that sans is advantageous on a small 
> screen.

Of course it's largely a matter of taste. 

Have a look for yourself: a scan of Martin Reiser's 'The Oberon System' can be found here: http://oberoncore.ru/library/reiser_the_oberon_system_user_guide_and_programmers_manual <http://oberoncore.ru/library/reiser_the_oberon_system_user_guide_and_programmers_manual> 
and there's a pdf-version of Moessenboeck's 'OOP in Oberon-2 ' here: http://ssw.jku.at/Research/Books/Oberon2.pdf <http://ssw.jku.at/Research/Books/Oberon2.pdf> . 
In both books the main text is set in a serif font and the Oberon source code text is set in Helvetica. I find it very pleasing to the eye, and (for me) a joy to read. On modern high resolution screens it's similar.

> From:	Hans Klaver <hklaver at dds.nl>
> Date:	Thu, 10 Aug 2017 01:58:37 +0200
>> I would suggest: "font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif"
> 
> I've read advise that font selection should be constrained no more 
> than necessary.  That suggests "font-family: sans-serif" or 
> "font-family: sans-serif, serif". Also, many or most readers won't 
> notice the differences between the various sans fonts.  You specify 
> Heletica explicitly in respect of its primacy?

That's right. Helvetica is the original of this font-family. If you specify "font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif" then if Helvetica is available on a computer it will be used, otherwise Arial or some other look-alike will be used. Helvetica first because it is the original and in honour of Wirth and Oberon, who are from Helvetia (Switzerland).

--
Hans Klaver
(The Netherlands)

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.inf.ethz.ch/pipermail/oberon/attachments/20170816/66ebd35e/attachment.html>