Trollstuck worldbuilding details - please help Liz decide!

[edenfalling]

It has been suggested to me that Alonde's typing quirk should be to use a completely different font from normal chatlog text (i.e., Courier New). This will help differentiate her from Eridan and Feferi, whose colors are otherwise far too similar to hers.

The thing is, font display is such a hit and miss thing, plus there's the issue of finding one that lines up nicely when set next to, on top of, and underneath a whole bunch of Courier New. And it can't distort emoticons too much either.

So. Here are a few options. Please tell me if they display or fail to display on your computers! Please also tell me if they are too small to easily read.

TT: This is Trebuchet MS
TT: I am testing how it deals with stacked lines =:)
TT: And this is normal chatlog text for comparison =:)

TT: This is Monotype Corsiva
TT: I am testing how it deals with stacked lines =:)
TT: And this is normal chatlog text for comparison =:)

TT: This is Monotype Corsiva at +1 size
TT: I am testing how it deals with stacked lines =:)
TT: And this is normal chatlog text for comparison =:)

TT: This is Lucida Handwriting
TT: I am testing how it deals with stacked lines =:)
TT: And this is normal chatlog text for comparison =:)

TT: This is Pristina
TT: I am testing how it deals with stacked lines =:)
TT: And this is normal chatlog text for comparison =:)

TT: This is Pristina at +1 size
TT: I am testing how it deals with stacked lines =:)
TT: And this is normal chatlog text for comparison =:)

...

On the subject of other things that could inform a typing quirk, Alonde likes tentacles and needles. She's a seadweller. And her symbol is Eris:

or



or



(Jarlia is Ceres , Jothan is Mercury , and Davven is the Sun , btw. Because of Symbolic Reasons, and also in the latter case because it's the closest mimic I could find to a record. *grin*)

Comments

[joisbishmyoga.livejournal.com]

I can see all the fonts just fine. I have no idea what you mean by "stacked". ^_^

Trebuchet MS - clearest to read, most chatbox-like, may be too subtle a difference
Monotype Corsiva - still readable, but too small
+1 - very readable, looks a bit like italic-normal with an extra florish. flourish. fluorish. blaaaah.
Lucida Handwriting - ugly
Pristina - still readable, barely, but too small and very cramped
+1 - will mess with the display of the font color, it's several shades lighter than the rest of the text

What if you just italicized the chatbox-normal text? Does anybody do that in canon?

[edenfalling]

Spacing between lines, mostly. Different fonts create different amounts of white space, which, given that the identifying text (the "TT:" part) will always be Courier New, could create a weird visual disjoint. For example, Lucida Handwriting looks cramped compared to the other fonts, because it spikes just a bit further above and below the line and eats into the white space. And the +1 size examples distort the whole line they're attached to, putting an extra vertical gap between the "TT:" identifiers at the fronts of each line.

Weird that Pristina distorts the color for you when sized up! I didn't even color each example separately -- that whole block is surrounded by a single color command, so there's no reason for any individual part of it to look any different from the rest.

Nobody italicizes normal chatlog text in canon, but I personally think italicized Courier New looks kind of tacky and is not really the elegant handwriting effect I think Rose Alonde would go for if she bothered messing with her font at all. I could be convinced, though, particularly since my only other viable idea so far is to frame her text in paired arrows, based on the horizontal Hand of Eris symbol. => And that's just as much of a pain to type and code. <= *sigh*

(I have done more html coding for this fic than I have ever done in my life. *headdesk* Oh well, learning is good for me... I think...)

[explodingfrogs.livejournal.com]

Lucida doesn't look ugly to me, but I note that there doesn't appear to be a normal-size example of it at the time I'm writing this. Did you remove the normal-size example in response to JoIsBishMyoga's comment, or am I missing something? (I also don't notice a difference in color or shade based on font; perhaps the computers we're using display it differently? Of course, the lines on the alternative fonts are slightly thicker, which might cause the illusion of being a darker shade, especially on a white background...)

Of the four fonts, I would have to say that I like Trebuchet the least. The difference between it and the default is more subtle, and I think that a font that has a more handwritten look to it suits Alonde better. It stands out more, and almost gives the impression that she's actually writing her dialogue out and somehow majyyk-ing it into cyberspace rather than typing it into a computer the normal way, which is the sort of impression I'd imagine she likes to give. It might even be true.

Of the other three, I actually like Lucida the most, if only because I like the wavy effect it has on her emoticon's horns. (Of course, if her horns are actually meant to be perfectly straight, that may be a downside.) That aside, Corsiva looks good at normal size to me. Pristina is mostly nice, but the emoticon looks very awkward in that font.

As for Rose's symbol, consider that the vertical version bears a resemblance to the Pisces symbol. (Take away the middle line and you'll see it.) Do you want to use this version and explore the possible ramifications, implications, and conflicts behind its similarities to the symbol of the Empress and her heiress, or avoid the issue by using the horizontal version?

[edenfalling]

That is Lucida Handwriting's normal size. It looks like this in +1 size. Kind of terrifying, no?

I am undecided about the Pisces-mimic effect of the vertical Hand of Eris (which, yes, I'd noticed). On the one hand, it could be interesting to play with. On the other hand, do I really need more potential complications...?

[explodingfrogs.livejournal.com]

...Wow. Yeah, probably better to give +1 Lucida a miss.

I confess that I still don't see what JoIsBishMyoga finds so ugly about normal-size Lucida, though. I've looked at this post on two different computers now*, and still don't see anything wrong with it. I'd hate to think that my sense of aesthetics is really that lacking.

*Incidentally, the computer I'm using right now doesn't seem to recognize Pristina--it's rendering it as Times New Roman, for some reason. Depending on how common this issue is, that may be another reason not to use it.

[askerian]

I dunno, none of them really speaks to me. :( Maybe she could surround her sentences with ~ ~ like reaching tentacles or something. I like the symbols though! (what do their horns look like, each?)

[edenfalling]

The thing is, I already gave Jothan the quirk of typing ~~ at the start of each line, so using tildes for Alonde as well would be a little awkward. :-( What would you think of her surrounding sentences with arrows, -> like this, <- or => like this? <=

Here's a rough sketch of their horns. Order from left to right is Jarlia, Davven, Jothan, and Alonde. (Jarlia's is definite, since I already posted her full portrait. Davven's is also definite in concept, though proportions may shift. I'm a lot less sure of Jothan and Alonde and could easily be convinced to try something different.)

[marici.livejournal.com]

Gosh, I didn't realize how complex this could get. Based on http://www.ampsoft.net/webdesign-l/WindowsMacFonts.html Ariel Black looks like it's about the right width, but would Rose really use a sans serif font? I think not.

The =><= arrows quirk has interesting meta teases, though again it'd be a huge pain the ass to code. You could point them backwards or forward based on evil/good Rose, or historical/current context, or never use => and explain it's for when Rose is being straightforward. No, don't waste it on just one joke, but having Rose critiquing her own sincerity as she writes it is an idea that would be awesome in some way. I am kind of intrigued by the idea that she glosses and plays with text framing. After all, she's the fangirl of the four of them and far more like my picture of a fan than Nepeta.

I think Jothan's horns might both match the left one and be sort of twisting to the back of his head, not purely two dimensional. That way they look like the contrail of a jet doing a aileron roll. Looks just like the left one from the front, though, so you might already agree. Alonde's horns are straight up like that, but they've got little fishhook barbs every few fingerwidths down the back, like the middle harpoon blade here: http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pe_prb/h/harpoon_tips.aspx

[lurker-lost.livejournal.com]

About the symbols, maybe you could replace all the x with -x-, c with |c, k with |<, v with -v-, and the u with -u- ? (Or just some of those suggestions, because that would be a total pain to keep track of.)

If you go with a different font, I gotta say I like Trebuchet MS the most, just because it reads easiest. Monotype Corsiva at +1 size I like second-best, though I dunno if it would stack evenly.

[edenfalling]

Oooh, I really like those horn ideas! *makes note for sketching Alonde tomorrow night*

On reflection, I have decided to go with a version of the arrow gimmick as Alonde's typing quirk:

TT: -> It looks like this for normal sentences. <-
TT: -> Sentences that run onto more than one line will look
TT: -> something like this. <-
TT: => This is for emphasis. <=
TT: -> Questions reverse the arrows. <-
TT: <- Does that make sense? ->

[edenfalling]

Those letters don't show up with enough frequency to really distinguish Alonde from Feferi and Eridan, alas, and they would be murder to keep track of. But I like the graphic playing with letter forms. :-)

[(Anonymous)]

If you chose Dave's symbol because it looks like a record, its lucky that it fits him so well!

In my head!trollstuck I have Jade more of a sciency type: her symbol is Uranus, because on a web page about alchemical symbols it said modern alchemists often use it to represent Uranium.

Is John's Ancestor Gamelord Zillyhoo?

[edenfalling]

That the sun symbol mimics a record was a wonderfully happy coincidence. *grin* John's Ancestor was indeed the Gamelord. Whether his personal name was Zillyhoo, alas, I cannot say. (Until and unless it comes up in the story, of course!) *ostentatiously zips lips*