Rubio Orders Diplomats To Return To Using Times New Roman Font (reuters.com)
- Reference: 0180350067
- News link: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/12/10/0059236/rubio-orders-diplomats-to-return-to-using-times-new-roman-font
- Source link: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/rubio-stages-font-coup-times-new-roman-ousts-calibri-2025-12-09/
> U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday [1]ordered diplomats to return to using Times New Roman font in official communications , calling his predecessor Antony Blinken's decision to adopt Calibri a "wasteful" diversity move, according to an internal department cable seen by Reuters. The department under Blinken in early January 2023 had switched to Calibri, a modern sans-serif font, saying this was a more accessible font for people with disabilities because it did not have the decorative angular features and was the default in Microsoft products.
>
> A cable dated December 9 sent to all U.S. diplomatic posts said that typography shapes the professionalism of an official document and Calibri is informal compared to serif typefaces. "To restore decorum and professionalism to the Department's written work products and abolish yet another wasteful DEIA program, the Department is returning to Times New Roman as its standard typeface," the cable said. "This formatting standard aligns with the President's One Voice for America's Foreign Relations directive, underscoring the Department's responsibility to present a unified, professional voice in all communications," it added.
[1] https://www.reuters.com/world/us/rubio-stages-font-coup-times-new-roman-ousts-calibri-2025-12-09/
well damn, these people are really looking out for (Score:2)
this isn't some bizarre tit for tat anti diversity move no this is for decorum and some kind of weird sense of discipline.
New Religious War (Score:2)
Calibri vs Times NEW Roman?
What's wrong with regular Times Roman?
Using Microsoft default anything should be a felony.
This is an outrage !
Re: (Score:3)
Using Microsoft default anything should be a felony.
Hopefully this will be enacted in Europe soon!
Re: (Score:2)
NO! This is an outrage! [slams table]
Our religious war should be about reader's choice vs writer's choice!
Re: (Score:2)
Times New Roman is not a Microsoft invention. It was commissioned by The Times in 1931 as an update to their former font Times Roman, also known as Times.
The update from Times Roman to Times New Roman was intended to address more modern printing techniques and aesthetics.
But neither Times Roman or Times New Roman has anything to do with Microsoft; it was all done decades before Bill Gates was born.
Re: New Religious War (Score:2)
Using Microsoft defaults, specifically designed by top quality forges for readability across mediums, is EXACTLY what a government should use. They are not designing a webpage meant to get VC funding or sell Chinese goods. They are writing shit to disseminate information.
Re: (Score:2)
That would be more like "Pennisetvm Clandestinvm"
Re: (Score:2)
It would make too many court cases illegible. VS vs Vnited Something Co.
If Elected I Promise (Score:5, Funny)
If Elected I Promise to direct the State Department to issue all official correspondence in Comic Sans MS.
I believe strong this will help inject needed levity into maters of State and help anal retentive diplomats the world over not take themselves so seriously, allowing for more open and dynamic conversations.
Now about my Nobel Peace Prize...
Re: (Score:3)
> If Elected I Promise to direct the State Department to issue all official correspondence in Comic Sans MS.
Will it be permissible to use Zapf Dingbats when emphasis is needed, or when discussing actions of the prior administration?
Re: (Score:2)
No Nobel Peace Prize for you, but you are eligible for a FIFO Faux Peace Prize. And it is trending, even two-bit dictators have one.
Re: (Score:2)
> ... but you are eligible for a FIFO Faux Peace Prize.
It think it's FIFA. As in "Fee Faa Faux Fum..." from the fairytale.
Re: (Score:2)
I figured Congress should be using Comic Sans due to the overwhelming appropriateness.
The Party of Small Government (Score:4, Insightful)
Strikes again!
Just don't tell the administration ... (Score:5, Funny)
That Times New Roman is of course named for one of their least favorite newspapers.
Or maybe we should, so we can watch some heads explode and witness the next round of glorious infighting.
Re:Just don't tell the administration ... (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, Times Roman, new or not, is named for the Times of London. It was instituted during the ink and paper shortages of WWII. It's slightly condensed compared to other serif fonts, and conserved a page or two a copy of its print edition. It was made for printing on paper. But it makes no sense on screens. In fact, what you're reading right now is a sans-serif font.
Re: (Score:2)
It was also designed to be legible with poor ink on worse paper, and to be used in narrow columns (like what is used in newspapers). It looks horrible and unprofessional in a book or a normal business document.
There are lots of much better serif fonts that work well for business documents. They also tend to cost more because of licensing.
MS has created a lot of horrible, ugly fonts, but Calibri is actually good. Also, if you are already using MS Office, essentially free.
Serifs clarify what the letter is. (Score:4, Informative)
I agree with this, but for another reason. Because there are problems with non-serif fonts. For instance for myself, with an unusual first name that starts with I, which regularly gets confused with l (and if you have to think about this, it's because I've typed in two different Latin letters in different cases). So much so, that now when someone tells me that they have sent me an email, and I cannot see it, I know that they typed my name out, because they are probably not capable of copying via the clipboard.
Re:Serifs clarify what the letter is. (Score:5, Insightful)
Whoever's idea it was to take the bars off capital "I" should be flogged. They are not serifs, they are bars, like a double-ended T. Floggem! Dig them back up and flog their bones if we have to. They generated centuries of confusion.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm sorry, what glyph/letter are you talking about? It's unclear
Re: Serifs clarify what the letter is. (Score:2)
Tahoma and Verdana are both common sans-serif fonts that have crossbars on the uppercase "I".
Though I would think it wouldn't matter often. Can your name be mistaken for a regular word? Otherwise, isn't it clear it's a capital "I" because it starts a name?
Yes, Return to Decorum (Score:4, Insightful)
"Decorum" for the administration who's Press Secretary makes brazen lies almost daily. The administration who's President calls reporters and people he doesn't like childish names daily, while insisting things others have done he himself did. Lots of decorum there. I don't think reverting to an old font will have the slightest difference in decorum with this administration.
Re: (Score:2)
Rubio stated, "We insist that our extrajudicial killings and war crimes be documented with a sense of professionalism and decorum by requiring the use of a proper font. Only savages use Calibri."
Best read in Comic Sans (Score:2)
A nationalist administration desperate to regain lost prestige deems a domestically produced font inferior and seeks consolation in another bed.
Re: (Score:2)
Honestly, Cambria or even Aptos would have been much better choices than Calibri, if we're looking at domestic or Microsoft fonts.
Serifs in Cambria avoid ambiguity between I and l, which is more important than normal---clarity is more valuable when dealing with foreign words and names. It was designed to be equally readable digitally and in print.
Aptos is sans-serif but has a hooked end on the lower-L. Not quite as readable in print IMO. I'm not a fan of grotesque fonts for print. Doesn't matter much to me,
Just wait till Trump tells 'em... (Score:5, Funny)
...they gotta use Papyrus! "So classy."
Rubio is so unpatriotic! (Score:5, Funny)
He wants "Times New Roman" ...
* The Times referred to is [1]The Times newspaper, a British publication [thetimes.com].
* New Roman is clearly linked to Italy!
He should have ordered the adoption of something like [2] American Kestrel [1001freefonts.com] or one of the [3]Disney fonts [1001freefonts.com] or one [4]USA fonts [textstudio.com]. Hopefully, using his great intellect and insight Trump will admonish and correct him.
[1] https://www.thetimes.com/
[2] https://www.1001freefonts.com/american-kestrel.font
[3] https://www.1001freefonts.com/disney-fonts.php
[4] https://www.textstudio.com/logo/usa-font-1114
Re: (Score:2)
Apple Garamond; bring back teh '80s.
[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org].
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typography_of_Apple_Inc
Re: (Score:2)
You mean bring back the 1540s? Punch-cutter Claude Garamond took that decade to hand-carve its original 2937 glyphs in sizes 9, 16 and 20 based on the handwriting of Angelo Vergecio, royal scribe of king Francis I of France. The original book project Garamond was tasked with was a reprint of the Greek edition of "The History of the Church" by Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea (323 AD).
Ya know where this will lead (Score:3, Funny)
...the Trump Font. All bold, bigly vertical, with sharp edges.
Re: (Score:2)
> ...the Trump Font. All bold, bigly vertical, with sharp edges.
Indeed. And the font color has to be gold.
Re: (Score:2)
Written in sharpie width of course.
Re: (Score:3)
...the Trump Font.
That would be Comic Sans.
Re: (Score:2)
And upper case only!
Rubio is a hypocritical moron. (Score:5, Insightful)
Two possibilities:
1) Calibri is helpful: In which case Rubio is a shmuck, making it harder to read by undoing the advantage it offered over Times new Roman.
2) Calibri is not helpful: In which case it was a waste of time and money to change to Calibri but that also means it is a waste of time and money to change back so Rubio is a shmuck.
His stated reason "Decorum and professionalism" was untested opinion. There is nothing unprofessional about the font Calibri. Changing it because your opponent liked it is unprofessional and childish.
Re: (Score:2)
Serif fonts help reading on paper (the serif creates a guideline the eyes follow) .
Sans-serif appear to be better for reading on screen.
So it actually depends on whether you print or not.
"Decorum and professionalism" is ofc bullshit. People are very much going after how things look than the reality.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
You ignore the possibility that 3) Calibri is actively bad, and therefore is worth the time and money to change back (both of which are minimal).
[1]I wonder why you ignore that. [wikipedia.org]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_derangement_syndrome
Re: (Score:2)
The general consensus among people who aren't obsessed with The Orange Dragon is that serifed fonts are easier to read on written documents, sans serifed easier on screen. Since the State Department has to have printed copies of many, many things, the change back to a serifed font makes sense.
And isn't a big deal.
In the end, though, it's just another example of how Trump is THE MASTER TROLL of all time, playing his usual game of "go chase the stick, good doggie, isn't that a nice stick, go chase the stick"
Re: (Score:2)
How much do you reckon it actually costs to change fonts? It costs me under a minute and zero dollars, so for government workers what, an hour and whatever it cost to assemble a committee to decide how to tell everyone to change fonts?
A story from the Onion (Score:5, Insightful)
...had to check that this story was from The Onion. Sadly, it is not. *sobs* Reality and Satire are now impossible to tell apart.
Oh good (Score:2)
Itâ(TM)s time we addressed these important issues. Now US diplomacy is great again. Weâ(TM)ll make peace bigly with the best words in the best fonts.
Ok, thatâ(TM)s my sarcasm quota for the day taken care of.
Glad they are working the hard problems (Score:2)
We wouldn't want them to come up with any real solutions.
Polishing a turd (Score:4, Insightful)
Just because you wrap the nonsense that came out of your mouth in a more official font won't make it any smarter.
What an idiot (Score:2)
It is well known to experts that fonts without serifs are better readable as long as the display tech is good, such as in modern monitors and modern printers. Serifs serve to increase readability when the display tech is not so good, such as in old printing technology.
Once again a Trump admin member outs himself as a blithering idiot. No surprise.
Wrong choice (Score:2)
Ah, good that the Trump regime is concentrating on the important things. But anyway, they secretly want us all using [1]Antiqua [wikipedia.org] anyway.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwabacher#Normal_type_decree
Such pettiness over a FONT. (Score:5, Interesting)
Calibri is a font that MS created to improve readability in printed documents. That is why it's the default in things like Word now. The OG order to switch to it actually saved money and effort in that they didn't have to reset defaults on new PC deployments. But it looks like the administration sees the words "makes it easy" and immediately goes to "it's WOKE so it's BAD" and we get stupidity like this.
Re: (Score:2)
> money and effort in that they didn't have to reset defaults on new PC deployments
If you are manually changing defaults on PC deployments the pain is a feature. Get your shit together.
So cancer all cured, then? (Score:2)
Glad to see this administration has its priorities straight. /eyeroll
Is governing just rage bait attention farming now? (Score:2)
The framing of routine administrative decisions as cultural battlegrounds tends to benefit people who want attention and engagement, not people who want effective governance. Is this what republicans vote for?
Re: (Score:2)
It's the political equivalent of a slow news day. They're not doing anything else that they want reported on, so they do this.
Re: (Score:2)
Or the news equivalent of a slow news day. Which is just a slow news day. Nothing worth mentioning to report, so report the things not worth mentioning.
There's nothing much of political import going on in DC during the holiday season, so this is when we get the wacky stories.
Priorities (Score:2)
The top priority of the administration was of course feeding USAID "into a wood chipper".
[1]https://www.newyorker.com/cult... [newyorker.com]
Once they "finished the job" it was time to paean the worlds dictators while systematically and illegally dismantling every lever of US influence they could get their hands on.
[2]https://www.bbc.com/news/artic... [bbc.com]
Then they came for "hope" itself.
[3]https://www.belgrade-news.com/... [belgrade-news.com]
Finally they came for the fonts and there were no typesetters left to speak for the fonts.
[1] https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-documentary/the-shutdown-of-usaid-has-already-killed-hundreds-of-thousands
[2] https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvge4l109r3o
[3] https://www.belgrade-news.com/news/briefs/trumps-u-s-only-country-to-vote-against-international-day-of-hope/article_9ca6193e-fd58-11ef-b2cb-435d460040f5.html
Well, at least it's not Courier anymore (Score:2)
Well, at least it's not Courier anymore which the agencies switched from for diplomatic papers a decade or so ago.
Re: (Score:2)
I hear Congress is going to use Comic Sans from now on, as it was determined to be the one that most closely matches their work product.
When people can't control anything important- (Score:2)
When people can't control anything important they control the useless things they can.
I was working at C-COR connecticut (they bought a division of ADC telecommunications), when management became obsessed with what was on top of peoples cubicle cubbies I knew we were circling the drain.
So switching was "wasteful diversity move"? (Score:2)
In which case switching back is just as "wasteful". And Rubio gets to punch down on the visually impaired in the process. I'm sure it won't end in a series of costly and "wasteful" lawsuits. Great job.
This must be a merit-based decision (Score:2)
As the current administration always makes decisions in an entirely merit-based way across the board.
It must have taken forever (Score:2)
to glue all the serifs back onto the characters. I hope they were kept in boxes so that the administration didn't have to buy new ones.
OCR (Score:2)
I wonder if the choice of fonts make optical character reading easier.
Times New Roman font... (Score:2)
is the best darn font in the whole wide world. If other people used Times New Font they would see the truth. I love my font!
Rubio, tell me you're wearing tighty-whities (Score:2)
Calibri is the default font for Windows 10.
Rather than moving forward and selecting Aptos, the default typeface for Windows 11,
Rubio insists on using Times New Roman, a font based on the original Mac's New York font from 1984.
Was Rubio in diapers in 1984?
In any case, this is a stupid, worthless move used to distract people from the real problems which lay before us -- the most corrupt regime in American history, led by a serial child rapist with onset dementia.
Equity or Exclusion (Score:2)
It seems to me that the initial justification to switch to Calibri was pretty spurious, I had always thought printed text with serifs was easier to read.
The switch to TNR seems to be motivated just by anti-inclusion pettyness. Both fonts seem pretty near equivantly functional and "professional" to me.
WIth this group (Score:3)
For the current administration, the appropriate font should be Comic Sans
Re: (Score:2)
No, most fitting would be ....some popular Russian font.
It Feels Good (Score:2)
It feels good to be back to a time when life is affordable, serious criminals are prosecuted and remain locked up to protect our society, and our biggest concern is the default font of government documents.
Rubio wins (Score:2)
The fact we are talking about it is a victory for Rubio and MAGA.
He knows itâ(TM)s meaningless. Everyone in MAGA world is expected to own the libs a certain number of times per year. He has met Decemberâ(TM)s quota early. He can knockoff for the holidays now guilt free.
The ^Z Administration (Score:2)
n/t
New font needed (Score:2)
Is someone were to copy Calibri and name it Freedom Font they would have the entire government using it the next day. I would say things couldn't get any more stupid but I think they've heard me say that before and took it as a challenge.
Since when is sans-serif accessible? (Score:2)
Wasn't it that serifs anchor the view to the right line, so you can read it easier? Sans serif looks better on flyers and ads, but most people wouldn't typeset books with it.
Runbio, on his kness before Microsoft (Score:2)
Indeed, I am old enough to remember the font wars, as part of the browser wars
Aaah, yes, Calibri, the scourge of wokeness ... (Score:2)
... in font form. ... Errm, ... WTF?!??
IMHO TNR and Calibri are both shite, but I can see why one would want to go back to a decades old standerd.
As for calling Calibri "woke" - is this Rubio guy on crack?
Totalitarians love a firehose of random crap (Score:3)
Bannon called it "flooding the zone." Heather Cox Richardson told us that it was coming.
I never would have guessed that tyrants had a playbook, but here it is.
Anything to distract the people from the fact that the US is trying to force the capitulation of a fledgling democracy to a murderous tyrant, so that Trump and his cronies can benefit from business deals.
And to distract from the redactions in the Epstein files.
Rubio's sanest action yet (Score:2)
Still utterly insane but his sanest! What a good little boy he's been.
Imagine (Score:2)
Imagine being the Secretary of State of the United States of America and having a font choice be one of your priorities.
Little Marco needs his nap.
From now on... (Score:2)
...all President Executive Orders will be written in Wingdings typeface.
What was wasteful? (Score:2)
If Rubio thinks that the change to Calibri was wasteful, isn't making yet another change also wasteful? He certainly can't be referring to the utility of the font because that would be an issue of functionality and not waste.
Tex Gyre Pagella (Score:2)
When I'm in charge, that's the font they'll be required to use.
Ah yes (Score:5, Insightful)
Fonts for ease of reading are woke now. What a fucking asshole.
Re:Ah yes (Score:5, Insightful)
Sarifs are, in fact, for ease of reading, but point well taken. The justifications are wrong and the people making them are petty assholes.
Re:Ah yes (Score:5, Insightful)
Without taking the disability question into account:
Serifs in print, as they help differentiate the letters.
Sans-serifs on screens, because they often make the letters fuzzy. Unless you have a resolution high enough that rendering their detail is not sub-pixel anymore.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Yeah, Calibri isn't serifed but I believe a design goal was to make it readable on screen (hence sans) and off screen (hence more elegant lettering and differentiation of widths)
Rubio's a fucking idiot, but what do you expect from a group that constantly demonstrates it has no idea why woke (which literally just means "aware of racism") and DEI (which literally just means "Remove artificial barriers that discriminate against certain groups, rather than imposing quotas") are not bad things or even the things
Re: (Score:2)
Serifs are _only_ for ease of reading if your printing technology is not very good. As soon as you do not have that problem, sans-serif fonts are significantly superior.
Re: Ah yes (Score:2)
Notably, printers have been higher resolution than screens pretty much since the beginning. So, serifs have never been optimal for fonts that are to appear on screens.
Re: (Score:2)
Apparently it can vary depending on the situation and the sans serif font is easier for people with poor vision. According to the government [1]section 508 [section508.gov] website:
> Most print publications use a serif font, one with the small flourishes at the tip of letters such as Times New Roman. With serif fonts being the norm in print, it might seem odd accessibility regulations require sans serif but there is good reason. For people with good vision, a typeface with serifs is slightly easier and faster to read than one without serifs. Typically, for people with low vision, the serifs significantly degrade legibility. The importance of using a sans serif typeface is especially important for digital content since it is typically read on-screen and not in hardcopy print. It’s okay to use serif fonts for headings or other emphasis. Sans serif is most important for body text and fluid reading.
I've also seen apparently sans-serif is easier for screen readers, but I don't understand why that would be the case so I'm not sure that's correct.
[1] https://www.section508.gov/develop/fonts-typography/
Re: Ah yes (Score:2)
I've never heard of a screen reader that actually looks at the glyphs (OCR). They typically rely on inspecting the content programmatically, navigating the UI elements to find any that define text. If you have a program that draws pictures of text, I don't think most screen readers will handle that.
Asking for an ADA Lawsuit (Score:4, Interesting)
This is just asking for an American with Disabilities Act (ADA) lawsuit. However, maybe that's what Trump wants - an opportunity to take ADA to court and chip away at what has been a pretty ironclad set of protections in the US. Like many other things, it probably is something his MAGA supporters who benefit from ADA don't understand... until its too late.
Re: (Score:2)
Yep, ask Marjorie how that worked out for her.
Re: Asking for an ADA Lawsuit (Score:2)
MTG could win another election. Her constituents still like her. I guess she just doesn't want to engage in the hard work necessary to fight for them.
Re: (Score:2)
But the NSDAP ultimately banned Fraktur, claiming it was a Jewish invention (Bormann issued an edict to this effect on 3 January 1941).
Re: (Score:2)
Yep. Although some Nazis saw Fraktur as an expression of German "kultur", Hitler always personally disliked it. What really pushed it over the edge was the conclusion that it made communicating to populations in the occupied territories more difficult.
Re: (Score:2)
> But the NSDAP ultimately banned Fraktur, claiming it was a Jewish invention (Bormann issued an edict to this effect on 3 January 1941).
They did - although I have seen some Neo-Nasty stuff that used Fraktur. People make the association of that font with the Nasties.
Re: (Score:2)
It's even funnier when Russian skinheads try using Fraktur for Cyrillic. I've seen pictures of some really stupid tattoos in "Fraktur Russian".
Re:Ah yes (Score:5, Funny)
They may as well use wingdings for all the sense he was making.
Re: (Score:2)
My favorite is Gill Sans which, like Calibri, is sans but is extremely readable on both screen and print. It in turn is based on Johnston, the London Underground font, which had to be readable given it was being used for signage and notices throughout the LU system. British Rail also had a variant of Helvetica intended for the same purpose and again ability-to-read-quickly was considered critical.
The thing is the whole "Serif is easier to read" is more of a spectrum than a hard rule. There are very readable
Re: Ah yes (Score:2)
Fraktur font is a setting you can flag in your terminal using ANSI escape codes.
Why? I have no idea. It was important enough for some people to make an extension to the American standard.
The upshot? If your terminal supports it, you can write in an illegible font!
Re:Ah yes (Score:5, Interesting)
It's more complicated than that. Sans serif is usually better for people with failing eyesight, while serif fonts are better for dyslexics. You can't please everybody. Well, I guess you could use HTML so that people can overwrite the font with user styles.
Re: (Score:2)
It should be easier to change the font and font size on a website. Yeah, I know you can force a custom CSS and shit, but it's complicated and often doesn't work. It doesn't really matter on desktop, but it pisses me off on phone browsers when characters are so tiny you can't read them and can't enlarge them.
Re: Ah yes (Score:2)
On Android Chrome, it's Settings -> Accessibility -> Zoom.
Re: (Score:2)
> Fonts for ease of reading are woke now. What a fucking asshole.
"The previous management replaced the stairs at the entrance of our building with ramps because ramps allow more people access and are the norm for all new buildings being constructed. Stairs are more professional than ramps so were are tearing out the ramp and putting stairs back in."
Yes. Fucking asshole.
I can understand fiscal conservative viewpoints. What I can't understand is why conservatives in general are (very nearly) all so nasty.
Re: Ah yes (Score:2)
Republicans in power are not conservatives. They've never been conservatives. The conservative wing of the party left with Paul Ryan. The ones left are the ones without ideological principle. They just want power. And they want to destroy anyone who takes it from them.
More importantly, they run on a platform of Little Dick Energy. But tiny-dicked constituents think all Dick Energy is Big Dick Energy. But they have to constantly remind their tiny-dick people that they are - in fact - giant dicks.