QVerdanaABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

Verdana was designed for Microsoft byMatthew Carter, with the help of Tom Rickner. Since 1996 it has been included in all versions of Windows, Office and Internet Explorer.

Verdana was created primarily for viewing on computer monitors. It is a very clear and legible font. This is partly due to the fact that its characters are fairly bold and wide. This also makes the

use of Verdana a bit controversial. Since it looks great at small font sizes,substitution fonts canbe quiteillegible on systems that do not have Verdana installed.

This is the most distinctcharacteristic of the whole typeface as it is with many and the differences are clearly demonstrated through the tail of the uppercase Q. Helvetica uses a tail which dissects the bowl whereas Verdana uses quite a long tail which protrudes from the outer edge of the bowl. It also curves down which extends the depth of the letter.

Another characteristic of the Verdana font is the shape of the uppercase R. It uses quite an exaggerated straight leg that extends out past the outer edge of the bowl. This is different to the Helvetica letter R which uses a curved leg and wider letter form at the same point size.

Looking at the lowercase Verdana alphabet there is another characteristic of the font which occurs in the letter t. Verdana uses a longer crossbar to intersect the stem to that used in Helvetica. It gives a feeling of unbalance and weights the letter towards the right hand side.

QVerdana Helvetica