Created attachment 137865 [details] Word Processor Font Defaults Writer presently uses Liberation Serif for text and Liberation Sans for headings, which is equivalent to Times New Roman for text and Arial for headings used in Word 2003. In MSO 2007, Word shifted to using a sans font for text and serif font for headings (the opposite of Word 2003), with the sans font Calibri for text and the serif font Cambria for headings, while Word 2013 began uses Calibri for text and Calibri Light for headings (both sans). Google Docs and iWork Pages also use sans fonts for both text and headings. Below are defaults used in various word processors and the attachment shows the visual appearances of these defaults. LibreOffice Liberation Sans (Arial) 18.2pt for Heading 1 Liberation Serif (Times New Roman) 12pt for Text MSO 2007/2010 Cambria (Caladea) 14pt for Heading 1 Calibri (Carlito) 11pt for Text MSO 2013 Calibri Light 16pt for Heading 1 Calibri (Carlito) 11pt for Text Google Docs Arial (Liberation Sans) 20pt for Heading 1 Arial (Liberation Sans) 11pt for Text WordPerfect X7 Times New Roman (Liberation Serif) 18pt for Heading 1 Times New Roman (Liberation Serif) 12pt for Text iWork Pages 5.6 Helvetica 18pt (Liberation Sans) for Text Helvetica (Liberation Sans) 11pt for Text
What is the problem described in this issue exactly? Do we have a community request? (I don't mean that we *should not* change the defaults; only that we should not simply copy some app's behaviour without a reason.) The defaults should just enable most users to start working on their documents with minimal effort. If the world population's trend is to prefer sans, then it's OK to comply; so - do we have an evidence?
In the comments to the blog post about missing fonts or default table styles, not sure, some replies requested to get rid of serif fonts. Serif is best for printouts, while Sans fits screen reading purpose. Mixing both in one document makes absolutely no sense. So my take is to go with Sans. That's not a direct reply to Mike's comment 1. (The ticket summary is somewhat generic)
(In reply to Mike Kaganski from comment #1) > What is the problem described in this issue exactly? Do we have a community > request? (I don't mean that we *should not* change the defaults; only that > we should not simply copy some app's behaviour without a reason.) The request is whether we should change our defaults. Kendy brought up the issue is last week's ESC meeting after asking about the issue in my patch. https://gerrit.libreoffice.org/#/c/43625/ http://nabble.documentfoundation.org/Libreoffice-qa-minutes-of-ESC-call-td4227222.html > The defaults should just enable most users to start working on their > documents with minimal effort. If the world population's trend is to prefer > sans, then it's OK to comply; so - do we have an evidence? Yes sans has been the trend the world is going in, as the evidence was provided by the defaults used in other word processors.
Proposal was discussed in the design team. Based on the community decision [1] it's a WFM. https://mobile.twitter.com/liboDesign/status/932556988571181057