《Times New Roman字体简史》

《Times New Roman字体简史》
A brief history of Times New Roman

原始链接: https://typographyforlawyers.com/a-brief-history-of-times-new-roman.html

## Times New Roman：一种普遍性的历史 Times New Roman 起源于 1929 年，当时伦敦的《泰晤士报》委托斯坦利·莫里森设计一种新的正文字体。它与维克多·拉登特共同创作，由于在报纸中的使用而迅速普及，并随着每种新的排版技术（包括个人电脑）而成为标准字体。虽然实用——设计紧凑，旨在最大限度地在页面上显示文本——但它从未受到评论界的高度赞扬。莫里森本人预料到批评，承认其设计有些受限。尽管缺乏美学吸引力，但其广泛的可获得性使其占据主导地位。有趣的是，Times New Roman 的长寿并不一定归功于其质量，而是其无处不在。它已与冷漠和缺乏设计选择联系在一起，通常被视为“默认”字体，尤其是在法律等专业领域，熟悉度胜过具体要求。作者敦促读者探索替代方案，认为其普遍性源于习惯而非卓越的设计。

## Times New Roman：黑客新闻讨论摘要一篇关于“律师的排版”的文章引发了黑客新闻上对Times New Roman字体历史和认知的讨论。原文指出，这款为报纸设计的字体功能实用，但斜体风格平庸，且宽度不如许多正文字体。作者认为它并非本质上*不好*，但建议使用替代字体。讨论延伸到排版术语的演变——“埃及体”是现在我们所说的无衬线体的旧称——以及字体许可和设计的复杂世界。许多评论者提到了作者马修·巴特里克（Matthew Butterick）及其在排版方面的工作，包括他的著作《实用排版》（Practical Typography）和他的字体设计。一个反复出现的主题是字体偏好的主观性。有些人认为Times New Roman因与错误（如InDesign中的粉色高亮）的关联而毁于一旦，而另一些人则为其易读性和实用性辩护。争论涉及人们对排版细节的关注程度，一些人认为它是一门重要的艺术形式，而另一些人则认为它在很大程度上无关紧要。最终，该讨论展示了一个充满激情、对看似简单的话题——我们每天阅读的字体——持有不同意见的社区。

A brief history of Times New Roman

Times New Roman gets its name from the Times of London, the British newspaper. In 1929, the Times hired typographer Stanley Morison to create a new text font. Morison led the project, supervising Victor Lardent, an advertising artist for the Times, who drew the letterforms.

Even when new, Times New Roman had its critics. In his typographic memoir, A Tally of Types, Morison good-naturedly imagined what William Morris (responsible for the opening illustration in page layout) might have said about it: “As a new face it should, by the grace of God and the art of man, have been broad and open, generous and ample; instead, by the vice of Mammon and the misery of the machine, it is bigoted and narrow, mean and puritan.”

Because it was used in a daily newspaper, the new font quickly became popular among printers of the day. In the decades since, typesetting devices have evolved, but Times New Roman has always been one of the first fonts available for each new device (including personal computers). This, in turn, has only increased its reach.

Objectively, there’s nothing wrong with Times New Roman. It was designed for a newspaper, so it’s a bit narrower than most text fonts—especially the bold style. (Newspapers prefer narrow fonts because they fit more text per line.) The italic is mediocre. But those aren’t fatal flaws. Times New Roman is a workhorse font that’s been successful for a reason.

Yet it’s an open question whether its longevity is attributable to its quality or merely its ubiquity. Helvetica still inspires enough affection to have been the subject of a 2007 documentary feature. Times New Roman, meanwhile, has not attracted similar acts of homage.

Why not? Fame has a dark side. When Times New Roman appears in a book, document, or advertisement, it connotes apathy. It says, “I submitted to the font of least resistance.” Times New Roman is not a font choice so much as the absence of a font choice, like the blackness of deep space is not a color. To look at Times New Roman is to gaze into the void.

This is how Times New Roman accrued its reputation as the default font of the legal profession—it’s the default font of everything. As a result, many lawyers erroneously assume that courts demand 12-point Times New Roman. In fact, I’ve never found one that does. (But there is one notable court that forbids it—see court opinions.) In general, lawyers keep using it not because they must, but because it’s familiar and entrenched—much like those obsolete typewriter habits.

If you have a choice about using Times New Roman, please stop. You have plenty of better alternatives—whether it’s a different system font or one of the many professional fonts shown in this chapter.

《Times New Roman字体简史》 A brief history of Times New Roman

《Times New Roman字体简史》
A brief history of Times New Roman