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0 pointsethbr11y ago0 comments

Not parent, but in my spreadsheets fonts map to certainty ranges.

Serifs in increasing somberness for the most concrete numbers, sans for everyday estimates, and papyrus whenever I just toss random numbers in.

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zvr1y ago

Now, this is extremely interesting!

I am not a fan of encoding information in the presentation layer and I would use an extra column to show the "certainty" explicitly, but using different fonts in addition is an excellent idea. Many thanks for this!

Even in this case, though, I doubt you would go over the threshold of 8 fonts that was mentioned.

skeeter20201y ago

Could a human - in your scenario - differentiate the meaning between more than 8 fonts though?

pxc1y ago

When you've slowly built up a UI for your own purposes— whether the accretions are font faces or keybindings or context menu items— definitely! Picture a spreadsheet/convention that has evolved over the course of 6 years, seeing continuous use throughout that time.

As someone with color discrimination problems and contrast difficulties, I would so much prefer font/style coding over color coding. Sounds great!

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