Webfonters:
I was wondering what other peoples' preferences are for vertical center on even-pixel-height glyphs?
In theory, rounding up seems better for balancing counters. But on screen I'm finding I prefer rounding down, as more complicated things like the italic B seems to work better that way.
At this point I've been looking at so many pixels I've stopped trusting myself. Can anyone convince me one way or another?
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up or down?
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Comments
In general, for those three letters you chose for your example, in most typefaces that horizontal crossbar is actually a tiny bit above the middle. Especially in the B. So the "natural" direction to round it is up.
Cheers,
T
WWMCD?
But also this is also my experience when I look at two designs at a small size on screen.
It is also the tendency you see when you look at 15-18th C. optical compensation in punch cut fonts meant for small sizes.
The main contrary example that comes to mind is when the font is above a certain size/rez you begin to have real choices. In these cases sometimes a round down if more in keeping with the spirit of the design. I don't think kind of thing is what you mean though.