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by extra88 78 days ago
That's only a problem with some sans-serif fonts. This very site is using a sans-serif and the capital 'I' has bars in either end so it's not confused with 'l'.

Some sans-serif fonts do add little flourishes to some letters, like 'l', to further distinguish them.
4 comments
boredhedgehog 78 days ago
According to the CSS, this site requests the fonts Verdana or Geneva in order, and what you say about the capital 'I' is true for the former but not the latter.
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user_7832 78 days ago
> That's only a problem with some sans-serif fonts. This very site is using a sans-serif and the capital 'I' has bars in either end so it's not confused with 'l'.

I'm not sure if my browser is broken or what but they literally look identical to me in your comment.

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MathMonkeyMan 78 days ago
font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;

My computer has neither Verdana nor Geneva, and my browser's default sans-serif is Noto Sans, which has bars on the upper case "I".

Verdana does, too. It looks like Geneva does not (<http://www.identifont.com/show?1O3>), so you're probably using Geneva.

Maybe Verdana is the default for Windows, Geneva for MacOS, and "other" for Linuxes.

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xamuel 78 days ago
One place where the big i and small L look almost identical, and a pretty funny/annoying place for them to do so, is when you're typing a WiFi password in OSX (if you toggle "Show password"), at least as of MacOS Monterey 12.1. I also see them as almost identical in my browser's URL bar (Firefox 148.0.2 on aforesaid version of OSX) which isn't just an annoyance but might even be a security concern!
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keiferski 78 days ago
Probably your browser. They look different to me.
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hirako2000 78 days ago
And that's the argument for serif. If you set sans serif the OS may pick one or another font, and that choice may change over time.

By publishing with serif you are guaranteed there will be a clearer distinction.

But txet is contxtual you can evn miss letres entrly yet be lgibl.

The over a hundred page long research paper makes conclusion off a practical study, not encumbered by intuitive clues that typically make us think serif lead to more legibility.

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user_7832 78 days ago
Yeah, that was interesting.

I replied to that comment on Kiwi (chromium), android. The two letters were literally identical (I even zoomed in).

On desktop (also chromium)… the difference is obvious. I don't know if it's an android vs windows thing? Or what? But it's definitely something.

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mrgoldenbrown 78 days ago
Not for me. The font we are all seeing depends on our browser and whether we have the requested fonts. No bars on the sans serif my Firefox on Android is displaying.
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mr_mitm 78 days ago
Aren't those bars the serifs? So you're saying the sans-serif I has serifs?

Hacker news uses sans-serif font and in all my browsers the I and l look nearly identical btw.

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MathMonkeyMan 78 days ago
I think the serifs would be embellishments at the ends of the bars, not the bars themselves.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serif

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pbhjpbhj 78 days ago
This might be a question of philosophy! I suspect that they were originally serifs - see inscriptions to Julius Caesar, say (such inscriptions being the inspiration for Trajan font) - but for some writers they were extended to become part of the letter body, akin to the bar on the top of capital-T.

My take then is, originally they were serifs, now they are sometimes part of the letter form.

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