help me do my job

[mountain_laurel]

i'm designing a Frame template for a document that will be distributed in PDF format. at all my previous jobs, the default body text font was 10 point Times New Roman. it's a familiar font that's very readable in print, but i'm not quite convinced it's the best choice for a PDF document, so i've got a few questions about how people use PDF documentation and what their font preferences are. feel free to comment on anything you think i haven't covered, since i know some of you are extremely particular about this sort of thing.

me personally, i think 12 point is easist to read online, but is too big in print. maybe 11 point is the answer? maybe i'm being excessively fussy? maybe people prefer the familiar and i should shut up and stick with Times10pt? let me know what you think.

IMPORTANT: the URL i give for the sample document is wrong, and i can't go back and edit it now -- the correct url is http://www.writingtable.net/samples/Untitled.pdf. sorry about that!

[Poll #954218]

Comments

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Oddly, i preferred Palatino 12 at "Fit Page" but Century Schoolbook 12 at 100%. I was surprised at how nice the TNR 12 looked; i hate it in Word.

With my widescreen laptop, i like maximizing my Acrobat Reader window, and then fitting two pages in the window. I wish i could do that in M$ Word.

I like having the doc online for grepping, but printed if i have to read the whole thing.

[merde.livejournal.com]

in Word, select View -> Print Layout. then go to the Zoom option on your toolbar and select "two pages".

then buy me a beer because i'm SO FUCKING COOL.

[kodi]

I wish i could do that in M$ Word.

Am I just being thick? Word seems perfectly willing to do that for me.

[merde.livejournal.com]

incidentally, you suggested lucida sans, but most people find sans fonts less readable for body text, and while i love it for headings, at smaller sizes it renders poorly in Acrobat.

i'm really fond of Palatino myself -- i use it as the screen font when i write fiction because i find it both readable and attractive. (i'm also fond of Centaur for that, but it'd be a bit twee for documentation.)