Open Sans, how do we love thee? Let us count the ways.
If you’re sharp-eyed, you’ve noticed that we recently adopted Open Sans as our default typeface across WordPress.com.
Type wonks know that Open Sans is a humanist sans-serif typeface. It’s elegant and sophisticated, yet modern. It’s beautifully legible, offers an excellent reading experience, and has a superior typographic range that includes accents, non-Latin characters, and more.
Click on the image below to see a before and after screenshot of the WordPress.com About Us page. The previous incarnation that uses Helvetica/Arial is on the left. Behold Open Sans, on the right:
Open Sans, designed by Steve Matteson, Type Director of Ascender Corp, isn’t just a pretty (type)face: it’s free and open source, just like WordPress! It was optimized for print, web, and mobile interfaces. We know you’ll love it as much as we do!
Posted: Tuesday, October 9th, 2012 at 8:05 pm. Filed in Design, New Features, Reading, WordPress.com.
Oct 9th at 8:08 pm
Ah, the beauty of simplicity and modern elegance! Great choice, WordPress design team!
Oct 9th at 8:10 pm
It’s beautiful. I’m thrilled. Good work, guys!
Oct 9th at 8:19 pm
Night and day! Love a good sans serif font. Always have, always will.
Oct 9th at 8:29 pm
Well done! It’s a lovely typeface.
Oct 9th at 8:32 pm
I like it in the screenshot, but that isn’t how it looks on my laptop! It looks all blotchy to me
(especially the “i”s and “l”s)
Oct 9th at 8:52 pm
If you’re using a Windows PC, make sure that ClearType is enabled (it’s on by default in Windows 7). ClearType will make a ton of difference in the way that all webfonts, including Open Sans, are rendered. If that doesn’t help, post a message on our forums with more information on your system and browser so we can troubleshoot.
Oct 9th at 8:35 pm
Thank you for making the change. It is much easier to read Open Sans.
Oct 9th at 8:41 pm
Open Sans looks really clean and modern: I like it! Good choice. (Just downloaded it myself, and it might well become my font of choice!
)
Oct 9th at 8:42 pm
When can we expect propagation out to blogs? A rough estimate is all I am asking for…
Oct 9th at 8:50 pm
This only affects the public portions of WordPress.com like our homepage — fonts on your blog won’t be changed. The fonts on your blog are decided by your theme, or you can choose your own fonts with the Custom Design upgrade.
Oct 9th at 8:48 pm
Congrats WordPress Team. Creations who deserves Hi 5. From the @leinotho team writers.
Oct 9th at 8:51 pm
I’m using Open Sans lately on most of my projects as an alternative to Helevtica and I love this beautiful and simple typeface! Great choice!!
Oct 9th at 9:07 pm
Interesting. However, studies have shown verdana and trebuchet are more readable online.
Oct 9th at 9:08 pm
Beautiful! Nice choice!
Oct 9th at 9:16 pm
Lovely, simplistic yet elegant choice. It certainly reads well, kerning is nice, all together a great typestyle! Kudos crew!
Bryan (Nyrhalahotep) Hardbarger
Oct 9th at 9:25 pm
I’m visually challenged and I find this font to be readable.
Oct 9th at 9:27 pm
Never really thought font would have made that much of a difference, but this looks pretty great!
Oct 9th at 9:36 pm
I love the appearance I can”t wait to try in my blogs. So much easier to read.
Oct 9th at 10:03 pm
I am afraid it is too thin for my poor eyesight, a struggle to read even with glasses.
Oct 9th at 10:38 pm
I love it
Oct 9th at 10:42 pm
This is so great, I immediately noticed and started wondering which typeface was that! Awesome
Oct 9th at 10:47 pm
Yes agree it looks nice
Oct 9th at 10:52 pm
Have noticed it. Gotta say I prefer Helvetica. Sorry.
Oct 9th at 11:02 pm
Looks very elegant and modern….
Oct 9th at 11:02 pm
Subtle and easy on the eye, restful to read!
Oct 9th at 11:14 pm
A nice clean look. Like it.
Oct 9th at 11:22 pm
Font geeks rejoice!!!!
Oct 9th at 11:22 pm
Nice barb-less Sans serif / sans souci) characters: Still like to call that barb-less.
Thanks,
George.
Oct 9th at 11:26 pm
Very nice. Thank you, Ellen
Oct 9th at 11:27 pm
Yes, I definitely love it!
Oct 9th at 11:33 pm
I completely disagree. I was a graphic Designer for 35 years and have always found that for large blocks of copy, serif typefaces are easier for the eye to distinguish. That’s why you don’t see many books printed with sans serif typefaces, and when you do see it, it just looks…off. More examples are newspapers and dictionaries. It may be that we are just more familiar with serif faces, but I only use a sans serif when I’m using it for a headline or to make a point, otherwise, it confuses the eye. being dyslexic myself, I find the serif faces give each character more difference and I’m able to pick out individual letter with more ease. And as a personal style preference, I think sans serif faces just look cheap. Sorry.
Oct 9th at 11:36 pm
Clean and appealing, I like it!
Oct 9th at 11:45 pm
It is very impressive!
Oct 10th at 12:07 am
Nice, innovative.
Oct 10th at 12:17 am
I love it – Thanks!
Oct 10th at 12:47 am
I like it! You’ve Open(ed) Sans my eyes to the improvements a new font can make. This example page is much more fresh and contemporary.
Oct 10th at 12:50 am
I honestly cannot tell the difference. It was sans serif before and still is. Not quite as dark. So what? If you hadn’t broadcasted it, no one would notice.
Oct 10th at 12:52 am
Except for the heading, that is.
Oct 10th at 12:54 am
The font’s okay, readable and simple. Simplicity is beauty. But there are much other fonts that are quite more ‘attractive’. But overall, Open Sans is fun to use
Good job, WordPress!
Oct 10th at 1:11 am
“We know you’ll love it as much as we do!”
Well. . . no, I won’t. It has no SERIFS, dammit! I’m with Brother Vorisek on this one: Readability, especially in tiny font sizes, demands a Roman font. Try reading baseball statistics in Helvetica versus Times Roman.
Oct 10th at 1:14 am
Love the simplicity and clarity of this font! It lets the words speak for themselves.
Oct 10th at 1:40 am
Much easier to read… Iike it
Oct 10th at 1:50 am
Simple, open, clean, easy to read…beautiful. Good job.
Oct 10th at 1:56 am
About time!
Oct 10th at 2:07 am
I have to say I don’t like it. I really hate simple things – its another word for STUPID. The font is harder to read. the font has little curves and its really just artsy and overstylish. I suppose WP doesn’t care about people loosing their vision with harder to read fonts. People do in fact age over time, and these fonts don’t help.
To be frank all these SANS typefaces are really overrated.
Oct 10th at 2:42 am
I’m sorry! Maybe it’s my eyes or maybe it’s my browser, but I couldn’t see any difference.
Oct 10th at 2:45 am
Nicely done. I especially love it in the body copy. It is easy to read, easy on the eyes, and looking very contemporary.
Oct 10th at 2:48 am
Robert Seth Vorisek, You are only partially right
Also, sorry…
) I hope all understood me)
It has long been known that serif fonts used in print and on the web without serifs. And all because of a difference in the perception of the eye of information (text) that we see on the printed material (when the light is off), and on the screen. I understand what you are – because also worked in magazines and on the web. And I fully support the author of this article. ‘Open Sans’ not only free, perfect looks on the screen (which is very important), but it is also multilingual. What is very important for the web. (Sorry my English
Oct 10th at 2:57 am
Is it just me or does it look a little blurred?
Oct 10th at 3:01 am
It does look a bit thinner than the previous font, but I’m a fan all the same.
Oct 10th at 3:04 am
It’s not really all that different though, is it? I like it well enough but I do think it will be much more difficult for the visually impaired to read & work with.
Maybe it’s just my laptop but the text looks thinner and paler than before. I can probably get along ok with it but I do hope you will change it again, if you should get lots of co,plaints from bloggers with eyesight difficulties.
Oct 10th at 3:10 am
Open Sans, Count not the ways … we love thee anyway.
Oct 10th at 3:15 am
I first noticed the change on my mobile wordpress app. even before you announced it! I had a look in Custom Design but I don’t see it listed there. Will it become an option?
Oct 10th at 3:40 am
Beautiful, love it!
Oct 10th at 3:43 am
I had noticed it the moment I saw the new wordpress home page. This is a real neat font. And looks more professional.
Oct 10th at 3:55 am
Did notice and do like.
Oct 10th at 4:04 am
Too good… This will surely improve readability making it clean and clear!
Thanks to all in development…
Oct 10th at 5:36 am
Earlier The Times was the one of the most readable typeface, but that is much better and suits for every media!!!
Oct 10th at 6:15 am
Simple and clean, but sweet.
I like it!
Oct 10th at 6:40 am
Looks very elegant and modern….
Oct 10th at 7:14 am
Great chioce, for bodytext that is. But please keep using Georgia for headings, in my opinion it’s part of the WordPress soul.
Oct 10th at 7:39 am
The font can ‘make’ or ‘break’ a page, it’s an important key feature that often gets overlooked.
Being excited by font, oh it’s so nerdy, I love it.
Oct 10th at 7:57 am
i knew it!
Oct 10th at 8:26 am
Open Sans needs some kerning work. It jars the eye of the seasoned graphics professional (mine). I will not use it.
Oct 10th at 8:43 am
I generally like sans serif fonts, but in this case I personally don’t find it the best solution. I too have the issue with confusing “i” and “l” and the letters in the body look “dirty”, not well-defined, and I’m on win 7 on chrome which is supposed to look good.
And the serif font in the headline was looking more elegant than now. But it’s a matter of personal preference, since wp is the coolest thing since cms systems.
If I will manage to get the font to look clean, I’ll be happy. Then the rest doesn’t matter if it doesn’t affect my themes.
Oct 10th at 8:46 am
ClearType doesn’t work for my eyes at all, and it never has. Now the stats panels etc are basically unreadable — an option to switch back to a non-ClearType font would be lovely.
Oct 10th at 8:58 am
As a trained graphic designer and typographer I applaud your choice of typeface – but it’s emphatically not a whole new design. It’s a subtle tweak of Humanist, which was lifted from Eric Gill’s classic, Gill Sans. And serif fans might care to check out another of Gill’s classics, Perpetua…
Oct 10th at 9:15 am
agree, so suggest general adoption
Oct 10th at 9:20 am
So much better and easier to read nowadays. Thanks!
Oct 10th at 10:12 am
I love the changes. I always wanted to have this kind of font. I don’t like the Times New Roman font. It makes it all ancient and stuff. Good work though. LIKE!!!
Oct 10th at 10:26 am
Open Sans …. gives the whole page an open feel – just like it says on the tin! Reading Patrick’s concern about his eyesight, I wonder if its worth seeing if a .0something added weight would make a tiny but magical difference to those with sight struggles? VP who cites “studies” that recommend other typefaces – the best study of all is being brave enough to try something new, gauge response and go from there. I reckon WordPress, you’ve got this pretty spot on – marvelous!
Oct 10th at 10:49 am
You’ll forgive me, but In stark contrast to a few of the above posts, t’was the first thing that I noticed upon publishing my very next article, which I’d lovingly articulated in elegant Georgia font, only to be momentarily defaulted into Open Sans hell. I must say that I was appalled. Simplicity is the bleach of life, and Open Sans is an attempt at artificial perfection, a sad, lifeless and anemic font. Georgia, by comparison, is a warm fire on a snowy, moonless night.
Oct 10th at 11:05 am
Sorry to rain on your parade, but WordPress is not free. I would respectfully suggest that its customer service was revised and received as much attention as a font does.
Oct 10th at 11:11 am
with regards to the before and after…left and right do not apply on the page…it is either top or bottom…can i assume open sans is the bottom and Helvetica/Arial on the top?
Oct 10th at 1:05 pm
Yes, the body copy on the image on the left contains Helvetica/Arial. The body copy on the image on the right uses Open Sans.
Oct 10th at 11:21 am
I’m still undecided between the two
Oct 10th at 11:39 am
I agree with the graphic designer above. Serifs are there for a purpose and that purpose is character recognition. I’ve worked in newspaper design for 20 years and the golden rule is use a serif typeface for large blocks of text. Readers’ eyes tire more easily with a sans face because character recognition becomes harder. For captions, panels, small posts, design features, headlines, the new sans face is ideal and elegant. But if you’re producing posts that are text-led, then choose serif every time.
Oct 10th at 12:26 pm
I write better with certain fonts than others and I don’t think I’m the only one. Sure, it’s probably psychological but I’m glad my typing fingers and my brain likes the new font!
Oct 10th at 12:50 pm
I don’t like it. It is way too thin, especially on a retina screen. This is partially a design problem – there needs to be more use of contrasting weights to help distinguish the hierarchy of information. The pair kerning looks amateurish, but maybe this is a browser rendering issue. The letterforms are reminiscent of some of the more awful sans serifs of the 1980s; don’t get me started on the numerals.
Historicity should play a part in typeface choice for any project; the helvetica family, while bland, ubiquitous and a bad choice for body text, at least speaks of “elegant, well-architectured” and considered design. Open Sans was designed to enhance the readability of body text, but it just looks awful in just about every other instance.
This looks like a work in progress — I note that there are several places where helvetica is still being used, and my wordpress.com dashboards are still using helvetica. I have always associated consistency as a value of the WordPress brand — so why does this feel so half-baked?
My suggestion — find a companionable serif for headings, and make more use of contrasts in weight.
Oct 10th at 1:32 pm
This is much better. Much clearer. I spotted it a few few days ago and thought my computer had done something weird! Though (despite the ClearType adjustment on my XP O.S.) I find it looks grey rather than black. But I can live with that.
Oct 10th at 3:12 pm
I love this font! And I’m wondering if we could use font too for our blog body text?
Oct 10th at 3:27 pm
Always thought Arial in particular was the worst typeface for the web or a monitor. Too compressed. Monitors need more open typefaces. Open Sans, at first look, seems to do a good job.
Oct 10th at 3:27 pm
Love iiiiiit.
Oct 10th at 4:00 pm
I chose Open Sans for my blog a couple of months ago…I love it!
Oct 10th at 5:20 pm
I have visual issues and the new font looks lighter, to my eyes at least, I prefer a darker, bolder typeface. Thanks
Oct 10th at 5:26 pm
I do agree with the several peeps who’ve noted that serif faces have always been more legible than sans. Are we just used to sans online? Or is it a function of the medium? Do serif faces look better in hi-rez print, but on lower rez screens do the serifs just get messy and sans becomes functionally more legible?
But my real question is why in your A-B sample does the new face look SO much better and clearer? Does it have a larger x-height? Or do the old faces have a “fuzz” around them. For sure it looks great, but it actually looks so great, it makes me wonder if there’s another effect also in place.
After a couple of wonderful years at wordpress.com we recently migrated to a self-hosted installation. Any info on how to use Open Sans in that environment?
I do hear the peeps that complain Open Sans is too stark and minimal, but the improved legibility is so dramatic, to me it can only be a win. Thanks & Congratulations!
Oct 10th at 10:32 pm
You’re exactly right — Open Sans has a taller x-height than Arial or Helvetica, so it appears bigger at the same font size. For a self-hosted blog you can include Open Sans via Google Webfonts, or via Typekit if you subscribe to that service.
Oct 11th at 4:55 am
i know i’m so late to comment but it doesn’t mean that i’ve just recently noticed Open Sans. i just want to say that i totally love this typeface and i’m so happy to see it every time i come home (WP is my home). it really suits WP, in my opinion.
Oct 11th at 6:58 am
I love it great job I love the typeface. WordPress design team keep up the good work!
Oct 11th at 8:24 am
Nice, I like it.
)
Oct 11th at 8:25 am
This is a good example of Pasthatred. Type with serifs is obviously prettier and more readable. But some regard it as Olde.
Oct 11th at 1:05 pm
I started using Open Sans for my blog as well. Definitely the right choice.
Oct 12th at 9:29 pm
It appears to be everything you said it was. Excellent choice.
Oct 13th at 12:31 am
I totally would not have noticed if I didn’t see this, but I’m sure that it looks freaking amazing on a Retina Display…..
Oct 14th at 1:37 pm
Looks really sharp, WordPress. I implemented it on my site as well
Oct 16th at 1:09 pm
An absolute beautiful option to walk away from tradition and boredom… Love it!