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I'm creating a shareware app that has lots of data entry forms (you

know the sort, with text boxes for fields and labels to the left of

each text box saying what the field is).



I've looked everywhere but I can't seem to find any recommendations on

what fonts and font sizes I should use for labels and text boxes on my

VB 6 forms. I was under the impression that Microsoft issued some

guidelines so that all apps look the same?



I think the default label font in VB is MS Sans Serif, Regular, Size

8. And the same for text boxes.



Is this what everyone uses?



I read a recommendation from Microsoft called "Windows XP Visual

Guidelines". They say:



"Franklin Gothic is used only for text over 14 point. Franklin Gothic

is often used for headers, and should never be used for body text.

Tahoma is used as the system's default font. Tahoma should be used at

8, 9 or 11 point sizes. Verdana is used only for title bars of

tear-off/floating palettes- Verdana Bold, 8 point. Trebuchet MS is

used only for the title bars of windows- Trebuchet MS Bold, 10 point."



The app I'm writing will have to run on everything from Windows 95 up

to XP. Should I follow Microsoft's XP recommendations or use

something else?



I've looked at other peoples VB apps and some like to make all their

labels bold and others don't. Some left align their labels and some

right align. Some add a colon at the end of the labels and others

don't.



What are peoples ideas on this subject?


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The good part about using the default font that you mention is

that every Windows installation has it. If you do find a nicer font,

the problem is that this font must also be present in the 'puters

where you app is installed, which means that you have to distribute

the font along with the app (assuming that its license permits it).



Of all the commercial apps I have seen, they all seem to use

the default font. Unless there is a specific reason not to do so, I

would just go with the default font.



Saga



"The Bit Bandit" <bitbandit@ureach.com>wrote in message



-

Thank you very much for your reply. You've convinced me that I should

stick to MS Sans Serif on my forms.



Do you have any comments on the alignment of labels in relation to

their corresponding textboxes and if they should have colons on the

end of them or not?



"Saga" <antiSpam@somewhere.com>wrote in message news:<OetRLazQEHA.2032@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl>...

"Saga" <antiSpam@somewhere.com>wrote in message



That's all true, but Arial (also included with Windows) tends to be the

default font nowadays.



Mike





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The Bit Bandit stole some unique bits to produce:



That seems to be the default in VB 3.0, 4.0/16, 4.0/32, 5.0. and 6.0, but

it's not what I use.



Tahoma has a significantly higher readability than Arial (another popular

font) and MS Sans Serif, especially when trying to distinguish between l and

I (lower case L and upper case i). It is installed by default with recent

versions of IE and (I think) on 98 and forward machines. I have not

encountered a machine without it in 4-5 years. Understand though, that any

font can be uninstalled.



On screen, I used to use Ariel exclusively, now I use Tahoma exclusively.



Unless you must use a special effect, never use a serifed font (such as

Times New Roman or Century Schoolbook) on screen. At lower resolutions,

they look terrible and can significiantly reduce readability.



For large amounts of text on paper (such as text documents), use a serifed

font because they are more readable. I use Century Schoolbook for my own

stuff, and Times New Roman for distribution.



Tahoma should work, but my mind doesn't remember what's on 95 for certain...



I only bold labels (or anything else) if there is a good reason to do so

(such as a form broken into sections...the section labels would be bold).

Left and right aligning depends on the situation, but I try to stay

consistent on an entire app and almost always stay consistent on a single

form.



One specific case where alignment will get mixed on my apps is with columnar

data (such as a table). I will align the labels in the same way as the

data, so numerics are right-aligned and text is left aligned (or centered if

the text in the column is centered). Also, if there is nothing else to set

off the labels (such as a line or box around the labels), I will bold column

labels.



Austin



-

Thank you for your insightful replies, Austin.



I've just tried Tahoma and it looks a lot like MS Sans Serif, with

just small differences (at least at size 8). Do you stick to size 8

for labels and buttons?



My app has a menu bar too and I'm guessing that I can't change the

font used in that as the user can change these fonts themselves.

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The Bit Bandit returned with more stolen bits to publish:



Those small differences are intended to clear up the points of visual

confusion that occur with Ariel. I usually use 9 points (because some of my

users have complained about 8 being too small). Tahoma isn't consitent at

10 points (some machines look bold, others don't, depending on resolution,

monitor, etc.) and looks bold at 11 points.



Compare "I like Illinois" in both Ariel 9 point and Tahoma 9 point It's

even stronger at 8 point. Those subtle differences make a huge difference

in readability.



Nope. We're all stuck with that (unless you use a custom menu control or

roll your own). But then, the user can't honestly blame you for their font

changes, can they? ;-)



Austin



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Is there a way to change the font globally, that is give the user a

chance to select the font that they find appealing,and then apply it

to all textboxes,labels and list/comboboxes etc on all forms in the

app.

SteveC



"Saga" <antiSpam@somewhere.com>wrote in message news:<OetRLazQEHA.2032@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl>...

I have come across pc's that did not have MS Sans Serif installed,

probably Win98. I also think that size 8 is pretty small especially

when people are using 1024X768 screen resolutions, perhaps 10 point

may be a better size.



bitbandit@ureach.com (The Bit Bandit) wrote in message news:<346d6664.0405271421.411f8818@posting.google.com>...