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Home , Arial, Calibri, Ebrima, Malgun Gothic, Microsoft Sans Serif, Segoe

Font: AR P丸E + Modified Sets:

Pros: Neater letters than Comic Sans. Easy to read. Works well for text that should appear AR P 丸ゴシック体 E + handwritten. Comic Sans MS (size +1, position -1~1.5) Cons: Requires a lot of modification to make the Comic Sans letters line up with the rest of abcdefghijklmn the text. The position needs to be adjusted so the letters are lowered by -1 to -1.5 points. opqrstuvwxyz Notes: At the bare minimum lowercase "a" should be changed to match a handwritten "a", which is a pain because it's a very ABCDEFGHIJKLMN common letter. Lowercase "t" and capital "I" are different enough that they should be changed if you're writing text that beginner OPQRSTUVWXYZ students are supposed to trace/copy. .?!:',"*1234567890~- Font: Comic Sans + AR P丸E

Pros: Easy to read. Works well for text that should appear handwritten. Comic Sans MS +

Cons: It's kind of a sloppy-looking font, so it's AR P 丸ゴシック体 E (size -1, position +1~1.5) not good for all situations, especially if you're writing text that beginner students are supposed to trace/copy. Trying to replace abcdefghijklmn more than a few letters requires a lot of modification to make things line up. The position needs to be adjusted so the letters opqrstuvwxyz are raised by +1 to +1.5 points. ABCDEFGHIJKLMN Notes: At the bare minimum only capital "Y" needs to be replaced because it looks too similar to a lowercase "y". Capital "Ys" aren't OPQRSTUVWXYZ nearly as frequent as lowercase "a", so I tend to prefer this modified set over AR P 丸 + Comic Sans. .?!:',"*1234567890~-

Aside from "Y", capital letters "A", "J", and "M" are also significantly different from the letters used in Japanese penmanship books, (using "ɑ" ) + so you might want to avoid Comic Sans until students are comfortable writing letters from (t & y @ 110%) + memory. or UI (capital I) Font: Arial (w/modifications)

Pros: Crisp, clean, and easy to read. Works ɑbcdefghijklmn well for instructions on worksheets.

Cons: Requires multiple and/or opqrstuvwxyz replacing lowercase "a" letters with the symbol "ɑ". In order for Century Gothic letters to match the thickness of Arial letters, ABCDEFGHIJKLMN they need to be scaled up to 110%.

Notes: Replacing lower-case "a" with the "ɑ" OPQRSTUVWXYZ symbol is very easy. Just use the find and replace function. If your students are beyond beginner level, then only substituting "a" is .?!:',"*1234567890~- probably sufficient. Font: Century Gothic w/Segoe UI Century Gothic +

Pros: Crisp, clean, and easy to read. Matches Segoe UI Light (capital "I" bolded) + the letters students are taught in their Segoe UI Semibold (?) penmanship books almost exactly aside from capital "I" and a funny-looking . abcdefghijklmn Cons: It's a very wide font, so if you have limited space it might not be ideal. The capital "I" replacement needs to be bolded to opqrstuvwxyz match the thickness, which might be tedious if you have a lot of text. ABCDEFGHIJKLMN Notes: Bolding the text changes the width dramatically so you would need to substitute a different capital "I" for bolded text. (Segoe OPQRSTUVWXYZ Semibold seems to work fine.) .?!:',"*1234567890~-

Font: Ebrima (w/modifications)

Pros: Crisp, clean, and easy to read. Works (using "ɑ" symbol) + well for instructions on worksheets. Supports Ebrima a wide range of symbols. Arial (capital "Q") +

Century Gothic (t & y @ 107%, position -0.5) Cons: Requires multiple fonts and/or replacing lowercase "a" letters with the symbol "ɑ". Capital "Q" can be replaced with ɑbcdefghijklmn the "Q" from Arial if necessary.

Lowercase "t" should also be replaced if opqrstuvwxyz students are beginners, which would require the Century Gothic letters to be scaled up to 107%. To make them line up exactly, the ABCDEFGHIJKLMN position of the letters should be lowered by -0.5, but I don't think it's noticeable enough to bother with. OPQRSTUVWXYZ

Notes: Replacing lower-case "a" with the "ɑ" .?!:',"*1234567890~- symbol is very easy. Just use the find and replace function. If your students are beyond beginner level, then only substituting "a" is probably sufficient. Unmodified Font Sets:

Font: AR P丸ゴシック体E AR P 丸ゴシック体 E

Pros: Very smooth font. Great for both Japanese and English that is meant to appear abcdefghijklmn handwritten. Ideal for blending Japanese text into English sentences written in Comic Sans. opqrstuvwxyz Cons: Lowercase "a" is not shaped like "ɑ". This font doesn't support the "ɑ" symbol so you have to use a different font to replace it. ABCDEFGHIJKLMN The text is also quite large, so it doesn't work well for small text. OPQRSTUVWXYZ Notes: See modified version above. .?!:',"*1234567890~- AR P 丸ゴシック体 M Font: AR P丸ゴシック体M

Pros: Smooth and thin. It's especially neat and clean looking when used with Japanese abcdefghijklmn text. The bolded version of this text blends well with Comic Sans. opqrstuvwxyz Cons: Lowercase "a" and "g" are not shaped like "ɑ" and "ɡ". This font doesn't support ABCDEFGHIJKLMN those symbols either, so you would have to use a different font to replace them. OPQRSTUVWXYZ Notes: I prefer this font over AR P 丸 E when writing small text because it looks neater. .?!:',"*1234567890~-

Malgun Gothic Font:

Pros: Crisp, clean font that is relatively similar abcdefghijklmn to print-style text but reasonably compact. This font supports Japanese kana, so you could probably blend it with some Japanese opqrstuvwxyz text.

Cons: Lowercase "a" is not shaped like "ɑ". ABCDEFGHIJKLMN This font doesn't support the "ɑ" symbol so you would have to use a different font to replace it. OPQRSTUVWXYZ

Notes: Oddly, this font doesn't support kanji. But MS ゴシック seems to blend well .?!:',"*1234567890~- enough.

HGP 教科書体

Font: HGP教科書体 abcdefghijklmn Pros: Crisp, clean font that matches print-style text almost exactly aside from capital "I" and "G". It's also very compact, so opqrstuvwxyz it can fit small spaces nicely.

Cons: Capital "I" should be replaced if ABCDEFGHIJKLMN students are still beginners, but otherwise can be ignored. Capital "G" is probably fine as-is, but it's stylized a bit differently than the OPQRSTUVWXYZ textbook.

Notes: Japanese text written in this font is .?!:',"*1234567890~- quite easy to read even at small sizes.

HGP 創英角ポップ体 Font: HGP創英角ポップ体

Pros: This is a nice font for titles or headlines abcdefghijklmn in both English and Japanese.

Cons: Doesn't work great for regular text, and opqrstuvwxyz uses a stylized "a" and straight "I", so it's not a perfect match to the textbook print. ABCDEFGHIJKLMN Notes: There is another version of this font using "ゴシック" style text instead, but I prefer the "ポップ" version. Very few fonts OPQRSTUVWXYZ have a "t" that doesn't curve at the bottom. .?!:',"*1234567890~-

Arial Font: Arial ɑ = OK Pros: Crisp, clean, and easy to read. Works well for instructions on worksheets. abcdefghijklmn Cons: At the very least the lower-case "a" should be replaced with the symbol "ɑ". Thankfully Arial supports this symbol so you opqrstuvwxyz don't have to worry about manually adjusting the font - just use auto "replace all". If you want to replace other letters, see the ABCDEFGHIJKLMN modified font set on page one.

Notes: Arial has multiple versions (Arial Black, OPQRSTUVWXYZ Arial Narrow, etc.) but unfortunately they don't seem to support the "ɑ" symbol. .?!:',"*1234567890~-

Font: Calibri

Pros: Crisp, clean, and easy to read. Works ɑ ɡ = OK well for instructions on worksheets. More compact compared to similar fonts like and Arial. Supports a wide range of abcdefghijklmn symbols.

Cons: Both "a" and "g" need to be replaced, opqrstuvwxyz but Calibri supports the symbols "ɑ" and "ɡ" so they're easy to fix with "replace all". Capital "Q" and "I" should also be replaced if ABCDEFGHIJKLMN students are beginners, which would require mixing fonts. OPQRSTUVWXYZ Notes: Calibri has a "Light" version that also supports symbols. .?!:',"*1234567890~- Calibri is my personal choice for default fonts because of its compact size and wide support for symbols, but Arial, Ebrima, and Segoe UI aren't bad alternatives. Font: Century Gothic Century Gothic

Pros: Crisp, clean, and easy to read. Matches the letters students are taught in their abcdefghijklmn penmanship books almost exactly aside from capital "I" and a funny looking question mark. opqrstuvwxyz Cons: It's a very wide font, so if you have limited space it might not be ideal. ABCDEFGHIJKLMN Notes: Bolding the text changes the width dramatically so I've listed it separately below. OPQRSTUVWXYZ If you want to replace the "I" and question mark, see the modified font set on page two. .?!:',"*1234567890~-

Font: Century Gothic (Bold) Century Gothic (Bold)

Pros: Nice, eye-catching bolded text that is easy to reach. Works well for headings or abcdefghijklmn titles. Matches the letters students are taught in their penmanship books almost exactly aside from capital "I". opqrstuvwxyz

Cons: It's a very bold and wide font, so it probably wouldn't be a good choice for body ABCDEFGHIJKLMN text. OPQRSTUVWXYZ Notes: See above for the non-bolded version. Interestingly, the bolded text has a normal-looking question mark. .?!:',"*1234567890~-

Font: Comic Sans Comic Sans

Pros: Easy to read. Works well for text that should appear handwritten. abcdefghijklmn

Cons: It's kind of a sloppy-looking font, so it's not good for all situations, especially if you're opqrstuvwxyz writing text that beginner students are supposed to trace/copy. ABCDEFGHIJKLMN Notes: At the bare minimum capital "Y" needs to be replaced because it looks too similar to a lowercase "y". OPQRSTUVWXYZ

Aside from "Y", capital letters "A", "J", and "M" are also significantly different from the .?!:',"*1234567890~- letters used in Japanese penmanship books, so you might want to avoid Comic Sans until students are comfortable writing letters from memory. See page one for a modified font that fixes these issues.

Font: Ebrima Ebrima Pros: Crisp, clean, and easy to read. Works well for instructions on worksheets. Supports a wide range of symbols. ɑ = OK

Cons: Lowercase "a" needs to be replaced, but Ebrima supports the symbol "ɑ", so it's abcdefghijklmn easy to fix with "replace all". Capital "Q" and lowercase "t" should also be replaced if students are beginners, which would require opqrstuvwxyz mixing fonts. Lowercase "y" is only slightly different, so I don't think it needs replacing. ABCDEFGHIJKLMN Notes: Ebrima is another good choice for a default font because it supports symbols and has relatively few letters that need to be OPQRSTUVWXYZ replaced to match the textbook's font.

But if you want to replace those letters, see .?!:',"*1234567890~- the modified font on page 2 for suggestions.

Microsoft Sans Font: Sans Serif OK ɑ = Pros: Crisp, clean, and easy to read. Works well for instructions on worksheets. Supports some symbols. abcdefghijklmn

Cons: Lowercase "a" needs to be replaced, opqrstuvwxyz but the "ɑ" symbol in this font has an unusual shape so it's not an ideal replacement. The capital "G" is also stylized slightly differently ABCDEFGHIJKLMN than the textbook font, along with the letters "t", "y", and "I". OPQRSTUVWXYZ Notes: Not a bad font, but its usability is hindered by the odd shape of the "ɑ" symbol. .?!:',"*1234567890~-

Microsoft Reference Sans Serif Font: Microsoft Reference Sans Serif ɑ = OK Pros: Crisp, clean, and easy to read. Works well for instructions on worksheets. Supports some symbols. abcdefghijklmn

Cons: Lowercase "a" needs to be replaced, but this font supports the "ɑ" symbol, so opqrstuvwxyz that's fairly easy to fix. However, the capital "J", "M", and "Q" are all stylized in a way that significantly differs from the textbook font. I ABCDEFGHIJKLMN would avoid using this font for beginner students. OPQRSTUVWXYZ Notes: Not a bad font, but the stylized letters limit its usability. .?!:',"*1234567890~- Font: School PMSP Block School PMSP Block

Pros: The closest font to the block-print style taught in penmanship books. Works great for abcdefghijklmn worksheets for beginners.

Cons: Incredibly thin, even when bolded. opqrstuvwxyz Letters are quite long and tall, which can take up a lot of vertical space. ABCDEFGHIJKLMN Notes: I stop using this font once students are no longer beginners because it takes up OPQRSTUVWXYZ so much space. It's not very efficient for regular text. .?!:',"*1234567890~-

Segoe UI

Fonts: .Segoe UI, Segoe UI Light, & ɑ ɡ ƚ = OK Segoe UI Semibold

Pros: Crisp, clean, and easy to read. Works abcdefghijklmn well for instructions on worksheets. Has thin and semibold versions that allow for slight differences in text thickness. They also opqrstuvwxyz support a wide variety of symbols.

Cons: Like most fonts, the lowercase "a", "t", ABCDEFGHIJKLMN and "y" differ from the textbook font. However, lowercase "a" can be replaced with the "ɑ" symbol. Capital "Q" might also need OPQRSTUVWXYZ to be replaced. .?!:',"*1234567890~- Notes: Might also be a good option as a default font.

Segoe UI Light

ɑ ɡ Ɨ = OK abcdefghijklmn opqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMN OPQRSTUVWXYZ .?!:',"*1234567890~-

Segoe UI Semibold

ɑ ɡ ƚ = OK abcdefghijklmn opqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMN OPQRSTUVWXYZ .?!:',"*1234567890~-

Tahoma

Font: Tahoma ɑ = OK Pros: Crisp, clean, and easy to read. Works well for instructions on worksheets. Supports a wide variety of symbols. abcdefghijklmn

Cons: Lowercase "a" needs to be replaced, opqrstuvwxyz but this font supports the "ɑ" symbol, so that's fairly easy to fix. However, the capital "J", "M", and "Q" are all stylized in a way that ABCDEFGHIJKLMN significantly differs from the textbook font. I would avoid using this font for beginner students. OPQRSTUVWXYZ

Notes: Not a bad font, but the stylized letters limit its usability. .?!:',"*1234567890~-

Font: Tunga Tunga

Pros: Crisp, clean, and easy to read. Works well for instructions on worksheets. Very small and compact. abcdefghijklmn

Cons: Like most fonts, the capital "I" and lowercase "a", "t", and "y" differ from the opqrstuvwxyz textbook font. Unfortunately this font doesn't support many symbols, so you would need to borrow a lowercase "a" from a ABCDEFGHIJKLMN different font. OPQRSTUVWXYZ Notes: A decent font, but hindered by the lack of an "ɑ" symbol. .?!:',"*1234567890~- Extra Font Sets:

Freestyle Script Font: Freestyle Script abcdefghijklmn Pros: This font has one of the best I've been able to find. opqrstuvwxyz Cons: Otherwise this font isn't very useful unless you're trying to write text that looks handwritten and don't care about readability. ABCDEFGHIJKLMN

Notes: This font is quite small and has unusual spacing, so you may need to resize OPQRSTUVWXYZ quite a bit to get the to match. .?!:',"*1234567890~-