[NoPedantsThanks]

The crossbars on the capital "i" are not serifs. Serif fonts have serifs on the crossbar.

Only sometimes does the lower-case L have a tail. And even if it does, there's no way to know that unless it happens to appear in the same text as a capital "i."

[fastball]

The vast majority of Sans Serif fonts do not use crossbars in the I[1]. But yes, we agree with you that it is important to distinguish the two characters, which is why we have, as Tobias noted.

But in what textual situations do you think it is important to have that clarity when the text does not have both characters? That's the situation where I think it is actually useful. If it is only one or the other, context should be sufficient.

I've attached a paragraph of text using SN Pro[2] that has copious Ls and Is of both cases. Please give it a read, I would genuinely like to know if you feel that our tails are not sufficient (not necessarily perfect, but sufficient).

[1] https://fonts.google.com/?preview.text=I%20love&stroke=Sans+...

[2] https://my.supernotes.app/share/imitate+gain+unlock+execute

[NoPedantsThanks]

Thanks for your reply. I’m on a phone at the moment but will check it out later.

In the meantime I’ll say that the ambiguous capital I is indeed rampant in sans fonts, but that’s not a reason to perpetuate it. Why have any ambiguity ever, when every schoolchild knows how to make a capital I? There is no benefit in doing so, and there are drawbacks.