In which context will you use this: sentence, title, quote?

I think the problem come from the superscript of your “th”. What do you think about that? From a Typophile screen capture:

It's used in a sentence. Here is another example, this time at just slightly larger than 100%

Oops, I didn't see your second post. I prefer the superscript "th" instead of just "4th." I can't remember, but I believe Bringhurst also said it was preferable... although I could be imagining that.

FWIW here's a Typophile thread debating whether to superscript ordinals.

Thanks for the link! Maybe I shouldn't superscript them...

I usually do superscript, actually. I just don't go with the program's defaults, because it always looks bad. And with yours, I would definitely put the comma after the ordinal (if you do it) as it looks weird having that glob of characters together.

I prefer to write my journal by hand, anyways.

In a personal journal you can do whatever you want, of course.

But as a frame of reference: In formal writing, one would not generally use the ordinal form in a sentence like your inline example above. When a date is written out like that, it is usually expressed as a cardinal number, even if it might get read or pronounced informally as an ordinal.

Personally, I think that superscript looks bad with hanging or text numerals. It causes the line to jump around and is distracting.

In the Wikipedia article on ordinal indicators it claims that superscript was a Victorian practice in English, under the influence of French. I am wondering whether this style came in with the adoption of lining figures. With lining figures, it works, though I don't really see it as an advantage. With old style figures, as I said, it seems to me ugly and distracting.

Thanks for all your input, everyone. The more I look at it, the more I dislike it, haha. I am just going to say "the fourth of March." It will be much less hassle.

Or March 4, it's cold, and that is fine with me.

I like the way a lot of other languages mark Ordinals:

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