Feedback Why do tildes display as dashes? -

[Absolutego]

A common way to write a figure as approximate is to put a tilde in front of it, like the third line in this image:

When displayed in the post writing window, that character displays properly, but when posted it turns into a dash. Below I wrote (tilde)25% is not equal to (negative)25%:

~25% != -25%

As you can see it's displaying two dashes instead of a tilde and a dash. Any idea what might be causing the issue?

 

[Null]

Our primary font for all user-generated content (UGC) is Quattrocento. And yes, my biggest gripe as someone moderately interested in typography and fonts is that the tilde is indistinguishable from the dash. It is an inexcusable oversight for an otherwise fantastic font.

Quattrocento

Okay, I'm going to try out a bunch of different fonts.

Alegreya, not a fan. Too dense!

Lora. Pretty good ~ !

I think #TeamLora is a winner. Very close to Quattrocento, but a bit thicker and with a better tilde. Wew.

https://fonts.google.com/selection?selection.family=Lato|Lora|Open+Sans

We use Open Sans for most forum text (including chat), Lato for titles specifically, and Lora for message bodies.


Round 2

Merriweather

Georgia

Libre Caslon Text

Libre Baskerville

Gentium Basic

 

[sbm1990]

Our primary font for all user-generated content (UGC) is Quattrocento. And yes, my biggest gripe as someone moderately interested in typography and fonts is that the tilde is indistinguishable from the dash. It is an inexcusable oversight for an otherwise fantastic font.

Quattrocento

Okay, I'm going to try out a bunch of different fonts.

So that's the name of this forum's font, eh? It looks pretty 80s to me, and that's good a thing.

 

[Null]

So that's the name of this forum's font, eh? It looks pretty 80s to me, and that's good a thing.

It's been pointed out to me before that we are pretty weird for using a serif font in message bodies when the en vogue thing is to use serif exclusively for titles.

We originally used Open Sans everywhere but several people complained about sans serif fonts being harder to read, so my design changed accordingly. More people complained about Open Sans being harder to read than serif fonts being harder to read... as no one has complained to me about serif fonts being hard to read, they just point out it's "backwards". I'm tempted to say those studies claiming serif fonts are only easier to read in print are wrong.

 

[Absolutego]

People often have a hang-up on serif fonts feeling too formal for message boards, but I've never had an issue with it. There's a reason they caught on as much as they have over the centuries.

In any case, thanks for the new font! A bunch of my posts now make actual sense rather than looking like I'm complaining about negative percentages.

 

[sbm1990]

as no one has complained to me about serif fonts being hard to read, they just point out it's "backwards". I'm tempted to say those studies claiming serif fonts are only easier to read in print are wrong.

Well, I'm a bit "backwards" myself so I'm not complaining. lol and the serif fonts have always been pretty easy for me to read on here at least. Yet again, I've always been told that I have very good eyesight so maybe Im not exactly the best judge.

 

[Null]

People often have a hang-up on serif fonts feeling too formal for message boards

That works in our favor. I like the term "ironic professionalism" describing things like Kiwi Farms and Cock.li

 

[Florence]

Hmm, it seems kinda meh to me. Might be cause it's a bit larger — god forbid having to scroll through one of @Jaimas's textwalls with this.

 

[Null]

I don't like any of them compared to glorious Quattrocento...

I've asked @copypaste to edit the Quattrocento font files to have a real tilde. He's way better at fonts than me.
https://twitter.com/ItsJoshProbably/status/870685552743333895

@Absolutego apologies but I've switched it back to Quattrocento for the time being. I'd advise using the font selector in the editor to make your tildes Courier New or Georgia in the time being.

 

[HG 400]

Change it to comic sans.

 

[Gym Leader Elesa]

Anyone who even pretends like they can tell the difference between 75% of fonts is a lying piece of shit.

 

[The Fool]

Change it to comic sans.

Agree

Anyone who even pretends like they can tell the difference between 75% of fonts is a lying piece of shit.

Agree

 

[AnOminous]

It's been pointed out to me before that we are pretty weird for using a serif font in message bodies when the en vogue thing is to use serif exclusively for titles.

It lends a certain dignity to our shitposting forum.

Anyone who even pretends like they can tell the difference between 75% of fonts is a lying piece of shit.

Any time the font has changed even slightly, there has been a thread REEEEEEing about it within minutes.

I personally probably wouldn't notice if you changed it to a similar serif font that worked well in white on black with the Dark theme, but if you changed it into some shitty font or a sans font, I would.

Whatever happened, someone out there would REEEE nearly immediately.

 

[The Kebab and Calculator]

 

[BadaBadaBoom]

Libre Baskerville looks nice for me.

Large, legible, and the characters are spaced nicely.

 

[Absolutego]

View attachment 228649

Courier New only looks fitting in green text over a black background.

 

[AnOminous]

Courier New only looks fitting in green text over a black background.

I'm used to seeing it in black on white paper, and thousands of pages of it at a time. It's sort of an old friend.

 

[Null]

~3.50

thanks @OwO What's This?

 

[OwO What's This?]

~3.50

thanks @OwO What's This?

 

[Absolutego]

Massive Necro, but the Terrible Tilde is back:

Tildes:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dashes:
----------------