Typophile

Nimbus vs. Adobe Helvetica Neue

buddhaboy

OK... I have so far got away with using Helvetica that shipped with Mac OSX, and a couple of weights from Adobe I purchased yonks ago just for particular jobs.

However, I now need a Sans with good readability, and with condensed and expanded options within the family. It must also be excellent for providing prices in catalogues (some fonts just don't kern very well with decimal places) in the UK, so a nice straightforward Pound sign is essential. I own a good part of Dax, but the kerning for decimals (e.g. £3.45) is distracting IMHO.

I have looked at Proxima Nova, Humanist 777, Swiss 721, Akzidenz Grot (nice but not sure about the Pound sign), but I keep coming back to the dreaded Helvetica... but I don't want to spend that kind of money, when Nimbus offers all I need for less...

So, is there any good reason to avoid Nimbus over Adobe Helvetica (I don't see one), or are there any other real alternatives?

Quincunx

I would at least look at Neue Helvetica from Linotype, instead of Adobe Helvetica... :)

Jens Kutílek

some fonts just don’t kern very well with decimal places

I'm not sure if I understand what you mean by that ... I would expect that for price listings, tabular figures would be required, in which no kerning is involved (or the numbers would not align). Or are your prices not in tabular form?

The default figures of Helvetica are tabular, but Helvetica's figures are not easy to tell apart in small sizes – which makes them less than ideal for price settings.

(Top: Helvetica, bottom: Dax)

James Montalbano

I always thought that URW's Nimbus Sans Novus was the best Helvetica of them all.

RG

I always thought that URW's Nimbus Sans Novus was the best Helvetica of them all.

Isn't it? : ))

Captured from web.archive.org on 20 Aug 2013. view this capture