Times New Roman Trends Following Heated Twitter Debate About the Best Font: 'I Am Bitextual'

A question asking Twitter users which font type and size they use to write has caused a storm of passionate, at times comical, debate on social media, with many seeming to prefer the classic Times New Roman.

Séan Richardson, known as @Southldntabby on Twitter, first raised the question in a post saying: "Please reveal the deepest part of yourself: Which font and which size do you write in?"

Users were quick to oblige with a barrage of answers, many of who favored Times New Roman, which has been trending on Twitter.

"Times new Roman, 12. Like a civilized human," declared @andreahastrolls.

"12 pt times new roman there is no other answer," wrote @hm_voss.

"Times New Roman italic 12 pt. It's all about that adorable lower case f," noted @cinemaven.

"That's why I like Georgia. I like that syle of "g" and the endmarks on the top of the "r" and tail of the 'y', " wrote @Volcanohead.

"Arial 10, but I'm full of self loathing already so plz no attacks," pleaded @RandyTayler.

"Arial 11. Broke the Times New Roman 12 habit ten years ago," wrote @johnmoe.

"Arial 10 for everything. Unless it's passive-aggressive, then it's Georgia 11," wrote @robertcaruso.

One user recommends a more "polyamorous approach" to choosing fonts.

"As I write and rewrite and re-re-re-write, I change up the font and size with successive drafts to dupe my eyeballs into seeing what I've written in a fresh light. I highly recommend this polyamorous approach to typefaces. It's terrifically useful," wrote @AmyBiancolli.

"Ariel 11 and Times New Roman 12. I am bitextual," revealed @mikebreslin815.

"New Century Schoolbook 12 ... because I am young and cool," noted @guygavrielkay.

Some took the debate took to an existential level with one user saying; "if i answer this, everyone will know too much about my soul," wrote @PhD_femme.

"Calibri Size 11 in the darkest grey before it turns black. Size 8 when I'm irritated," wrote @knightsglow.

"The conformist in me uses Times New Roman 12. But the real me likes comic sans 14 in bold pink," @LateBloomer_70.

"It depends... I have a font for every mood. Why limit yourself to just one???," noted @lsnorman.

Facts about fonts

Back in 2018, scientists created a font which they claimed helps people to remember more of what they read. Sans Forgetica was developed using design principles relating to memory retention.

Around the 1400s, German blacksmith Johann Guttenberg introduced the printing press to Europe. In 1470, the Roman typeface was created by French engraver Nicolas Jenson. It was said to have been inspired by the text on Roman buildings and was found to be more legible than the original first blackletter typeface created by Guttenberg.

Italics was created by Italian scholar Aldus Manutius in the early 1500s as a way to fit more words onto a page in a bid to save money during the printing process. He was able to sell many cheap, small print books by using italics type.

Around the late 18th century, English printer John Baskerville was accused of "blinding all readers of the nation" with his creation of a font that "hurt the eye," featuring a very high contrast between the thick and thin strokes, according to Curious History.

Around 1920, Frederic Goudy from Illinois became the world's first type designer, introducing various typefaces seen today including Copperplate Gothic, Kennerly, and Goudy Old Style.

The late 1950s saw typeface return to a more minimalistic design such as Futura, which was said to have sparked controversy in Germany once the Nazis began controlling German culture, according to Vox.