Behold the 'Ecofont': The environmentally friendly & open source font

[Sporkman]

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20081222/ap_on_hi_te/tec_techbit_ink_saving_font_1


Dutch company punches holes in font to save ink

(AP) Posted on Mon Dec 22, 2008 12:28PM EST

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - A Dutch company looking for ways to reduce the environmental costs of printing has developed a new font that it says cuts ink usage by about 15 percent.

In essence, the "Ecofont" has little holes in the letters.

Spranq, the Utrecht-based marketing and communications company that designed the font, struck on a Swiss-cheese design after failures with earlier experiments using thin letters and partial letters — like the stripes of a zebra.

"It turns out that it's necessary to preserve the size and outline of letters to keep them readable," company co-founder Gerjon Zomer says.

He concedes the font isn't beautiful, but says it could be adequate for personal use or for internal use at a company.

Spranq offers the font free on its Web site. Zomer says his site saw a spike in traffic last week as word of the Ecofont began to spread. Much of the international traffic came from the United States.

He says that was kind of gratifying because "when you put something online you never know what to expect."

The company is inviting developers to improve the Ecofont further under a free, open-source model, and Zomer says Arabic and Hebrew versions are already under development.

[Polygon]

interesting. I downloaded it and tried it out, and on the computer it looks very weird, it like makes the text look weird and colorful:

http://img370.imageshack.us/img370/2186/screenshotgh3.th.png (http://img370.imageshack.us/img370/2186/screenshotgh3.png)

but i guess it would save ink since it has tiny holes in the letters.

if anyone wants to give it a go, download the font here:

http://www.ecofont.eu/assets/files/spranq_eco_sans_regular.ttf

and stick it in /home/WHATEVER/.fonts

[SuperSonic4]

and then do fc-cache afterwards :p

[Polygon]

i did not need to run that command for the font to appear in open office.

[della]

interesting. I downloaded it and tried it out, and on the computer it looks very weird, it like makes the text look weird and colorful:

That's because of subpixel antialising.

This font is obviously not planned to be used on screen, I imagine that on paper it would look a little less dark when printed, but still readable.

[billgoldberg]

Haha.

Who wastes his time coming up with that.

No one is going to use it.

Printing out stuff is so 1999.

[earthpigg]

Printing out stuff is so 1999.

word.

i am suprised, however, that it took so long for someone to come up with that.

[billgoldberg]

word.

i am suprised, however, that it took so long for someone to come up with that.

I can't remember the last time I printed out something.

It must have been when I installed my printer and printed out the test page.

Before that, high school.

[Sporkman]

Yeah that's why you can't find printers and ink cartridges sold anywhere anymore, not to mention copiers, fax machines, etc. ;)

[JillSwift]

Hehehe. :)

A solution in need of a problem, that font. I've yet to meet a modern printer that doesn't have a low-ink mode of some kind.

[EdThaSlayer]

Pretty cool!
I'm still a university student so that will come in handy but I pay per page, not on the amount of ink.
Nice idea though.

[forrestcupp]

But ink is made from recycling the carbon waste that is being pumped into our air. So using less ink is actually hurting our environment. :)

[Tomosaur]

I like it at very large sizes, something a bit different :P

[Mason Whitaker]

That is so stupid <_<

[cookieofdoom]

It is actually less efficient on digital displays. I hope they had fun making it.

[Koori23]

But ink is made from recycling the carbon waste that is being pumped into our air. So using less ink is actually hurting our environment. :)

I'd never heard that one before. I googled it, wiki'ed it and I can't find any proof of HOW they make ink cartridges. I'd be delighted if you could point me to a site that'd have that info.

I did find out that the whole ink cartridge thing is a scam pretty much

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ink_cartridge

I found this interesting too:

www.metacafe.com/watch/1904249/printer_ink_secret_revealed/

and lastly, let's see what Uncycolpedia says, which.. I find very funny

http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Printer_Ink

[Grant A.]

I don't see the need for this. Why don't we just start using smaller fonts and magnifying glasses?

[Chessmaster]

I actually think it is a very good idea. Lots of places still print a lot of material. I work in a university and I know that the printing costs are huge. It is really hard to read academic articles on a screen let alone make notes in the margins for example. Think also of all the book publishers.

If they can reduce ink usage by 10-15%, the savings would be pretty substantial.

Obviously this isn't going to mean much for the home user, but for many companies/organisations that still print large amounts, it could be worth their while.

Not so sure about the quality of the font though.

[wmcbrine]

Polka-dot font!

[MikeTheC]

Looks like ***.

Probably will cause eye fatigue and is therefore likely to cost more money in medical claims on the part of workers.

Why not simply take a font and, before printing, "color" it to a 50% gray dot pattern?

Besides, if you're still using the same amount of paper (and therefore cutting down just as many trees, which is more important because trees are part of the photosynthesis process and ink sources are *not*) then how is it you're ahead, exactly?

[forrestcupp]

I'd never heard that one before. I googled it, wiki'ed it and I can't find any proof of HOW they make ink cartridges. I'd be delighted if you could point me to a site that'd have that info.

Sorry. It was just a pitiful joke. I really don't know how they make ink.

Interesting links, though. I do find it odd that in some cases you can buy a printer with ink cartridges for less that the cartridges cost alone.

[beyboo]

This is so silly - if you want to save the environment, dont print unless you absolutely have to - I always thought saving all that paper made my halo ring shine a wee bit brighter than others !!O:)O:)O:)O:)

[beyboo]

interesting. I downloaded it and tried it out, and on the computer it looks very weird, it like makes the text look weird and colorful:

http://img370.imageshack.us/img370/2186/screenshotgh3.th.png (http://img370.imageshack.us/img370/2186/screenshotgh3.png)

but i guess it would save ink since it has tiny holes in the letters.

if anyone wants to give it a go, download the font here:

http://www.ecofont.eu/assets/files/spranq_eco_sans_regular.ttf

and stick it in /home/WHATEVER/.fonts

Dude off topic your CPU temperature shows 51C, wot hardware you have ?

[Johnsie]

Dang! Now I will have to use bold and increase my font size just to flip off the tree huggers when I print all my emails.

[jomiolto]

I'm already "eco-friendly", because I often print two pages per sheet (A paper size system for the win!). My main reason is not environmental friendliness, though; I just don't want to lug a tonne of paper with me and most of the time two pages per sheet is still perfectly readable. I probably print more than 1,000 pages of stuff per semester, so cutting the amount of paper in half really helps a lot.

Also, reading from the screen is perfectly okay for some things, but when you want to add notes on the margins, make underlinings, have several pages open at once or work on your practical assignments while reading, paper wins 10 to nil. Personally I also find myself too easily distracted when I'm using computer, so I often prefer to do things on paper, even if I could use computer.

[billgoldberg]

Dang! Now I will have to use bold and increase my font size just to flip off the tree huggers when I print all my emails.

Lol.

+1

[Therion]

...
I feel oddly compelled to point out the fox is, properly speaking, both brown and quick while jumping over the lazy dog.


;)

[forrestcupp]

I feel oddly compelled to point out the fox is, properly speaking, both brown and quick while jumping over the lazy dog.


;)

I always thought the fox's quickness was overestimated. The dog was lazy, after all. The fox didn't really need to be quick.