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Last year, we asked Can we have a font which harmonizes better with MathJax? and the answer was yes, it would be included in the CSS rollout.

Now that the CSS and profile rollout is complete, it was pointed out in chat that we do not yet have the serif fonts.

Was this removed from the CSS redesign?

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2 Answers 2

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It was not removed. The request was overlooked. Our apologies. We've now updated the site font to match more closely to Chemistry and Math.

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  • $\begingroup$ I'm not convinced of how much the change helps, I'm afraid. From the examples in my answer, the answer looks good with HTML-CSS renderer / STIX fonts, and the comment looks OK with Common HTML renderer / web TeX fonts, but neither example looks good with the other choice. $\endgroup$
    – Emilio Pisanty
    Commented Feb 18, 2016 at 21:41
  • $\begingroup$ @EmilioPisanty when you say neither looks good, can you be more specific? I think they look fine, but maybe I'm not seeing something. $\endgroup$
    – Kurtis Beavers Staff
    Commented Feb 19, 2016 at 1:14
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I haven't had time to go through enough questions to make up my mind on whether I'm OK with this aspect of the new design or whether I think we should go full blast and change to a serif font, but I do want to note that the problem is at least much better than it used to be - and give credit to the design team for addressing this.

Compare the same example I used in the original request, with the new fonts vs the old ones.

New CSS

New CSS

Old CSS

Old CSS

In the old fonts, the LaTeX tends to stick out like a sore thumb, but it definitely blends in a lot better with the new ones. I'm holding judgement on whether it's enough or not for the moment, though.

Added:

And indeed, things are not quite there yet, particularly with comments: consider for example

seen here, and obviously suffering from Sore Thumb syndrome. (Running chrome v48 over ubuntu, MathJax 2.6 with local STIX fonts, in case it's needed. It would be good to hear from others whether it displays this badly in other systems.)

Similarly, for that same comment, it appears that Firefox (v41 over Windows 7, MathJax 2.6 using web TEX fonts) produces this horrifying sight:

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  • $\begingroup$ I don't know enough about typography to have an opinion really... I just voiced a comment from chat since I was posting the other question $\endgroup$
    – tpg2114
    Commented Jan 14, 2016 at 20:10
  • $\begingroup$ You're right, they did say serif fonts. I don't really care either way - I just want the maths on this site to not look like it's been pasted in with a glue stick, and to a large extent it looks like we got that. $\endgroup$
    – Emilio Pisanty
    Commented Jan 14, 2016 at 20:14
  • $\begingroup$ From FireFox 41.0.2 on Windows 7, I see the following: i.sstatic.net/ZILfC.png $\endgroup$
    – Kyle Kanos
    Commented Feb 5, 2016 at 19:31
  • $\begingroup$ @KyleKanos Oh, wow, that's horrifying. What do you get with right click > about MathJax? (it would be good if you can edit it into the answer btw). $\endgroup$
    – Emilio Pisanty
    Commented Feb 5, 2016 at 19:35
  • $\begingroup$ It says v2.6.0 using web TEX fonts at the top & a whole bunch of lines about extensions, do you want those as well? $\endgroup$
    – Kyle Kanos
    Commented Feb 5, 2016 at 19:43
  • $\begingroup$ I suspect the fonts is what really matters. Added into the answer. $\endgroup$
    – Emilio Pisanty
    Commented Feb 5, 2016 at 19:49
  • $\begingroup$ Also, that's a strong example of how different the various fonts can look, particularly with how the $\psi$s are rendered. I rather prefer the curly ones in yours, but that bold font is terrible. $\endgroup$
    – Emilio Pisanty
    Commented Feb 5, 2016 at 19:56
  • $\begingroup$ And, while we're at this, if you right click and then do Math Settings > Math Renderer, what option is selected? $\endgroup$
    – Emilio Pisanty
    Commented Feb 5, 2016 at 19:57
  • $\begingroup$ FWIW, the font is the same on Linux Mint 17.2 with Firefox v44.0 & MathJax 2.6.0 using web SVG fonts (the renderer is also SVG, the bottom two options for Fast Preview & Assistive Math ML are also checked). I'll check the Windows machine for those details when I get back to the office on Monday. $\endgroup$
    – Kyle Kanos
    Commented Feb 6, 2016 at 13:12
  • $\begingroup$ @EmilioPisanty It should be more to your liking now! $\endgroup$
    – tpg2114
    Commented Feb 18, 2016 at 18:58

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