[DiggityDug7]

Modern fonts have been frequently thin before the invention of retina screens.

The overuse of thin fonts might look dated in the future, but I don't agree that this trend is totally inspired by retina screens. If anything, I think Serif fonts have seen the greatest resurgence on web due to Retina screens. High DPI screens will impact our perception of all fonts, just as sans serif grew in popularity on lower dpi screens causing their perception to be more modern and technological.

In general typography as a whole has become much more interesting on retina screens. So yes, fonts look better now than ever before so don't cheat by using superthin because its trendy.

[thegeomaster]

Sans-serif typefaces were historically perceived as more modern than their serif counterparts. The simplicity and lack of letterform "decorations" (which serifs are) suggests a character of precision and rejection of legacy and "old ways". This has been the case ever since Swiss designers started using Helvetica and related typefaces set in clear, grid-based designs with modern color choices. So the modern character of sans-serifs dates far before computers and computer displays.