
Benedictus XVI - ptaipale
http://www.vatican.va/bxvi/omaggio/index_en.html
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ssdsa
The use of Comic Sans really makes the tribute look like an amateur's first
try at a home-made photo book. It's already featured on
<http://bancomicsans.com/>

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dan1234
I think the use of Comic Sans is actually one of the lesser crimes on that
site.

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tokenadult
Yes, the nonstandard link structure (page numbers for navigation, with no
ability to use a URL for a link to a specific page) is at least as bad a crime
against Web standards as the Comic Sans font on the site. And the copy (text)
on the site reads like a Sunday school lesson for little children much more
than like a communication for adults about the leader of a multinational
organization.

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Shivetya
Move your cursor to the edges of the book for easier page turning, not very
obvious but it is there. At first the page numbering at the bottom threw me.

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kbutler
>99.9% of people see comic sans as a nice-looking, casual font.

<0.1% of people hate it and feel better about themselves for that.

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Mahn
Exactly. Most internet folks fail to realize that the average joe doesn't, in
fact, care the slightest about design, as long as the object in question does
the job.

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dfxm12
The average Joe doesn't know he cares about design. Sure, with comic sans,
he'll think nothing of it.

However, Comic Sans is totally overused. Anyone can appreciate that a unique
(or "solemn") font will make this piece stand out for the better. I'd love to
see some A/B testing here.

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mattdeboard
Looks like it's been changed to Times New Roman already

edit: Or actually I guess I don't have comic sans on my system

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jvzr
You mean you have the good taste to not actually have Comic Sans on your
system. That, my good sire, is something to be proud of. :)

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brandonb927
I'm pretty sure OS X or Android (4.2.2 in my case) doesn't include Comic Sans?
Correct me if I'm wrong.

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jvzr
If so, I wonder how it got on my system. I can't remember myself ever
voluntarily installing Comic Sans.

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diego_moita
For a Vatican site I found it to be actually quite constrained and subdued.

What "hip" designers don't get is something very simple: Modernism is
Protestant, Baroque is Catholic.

Do you want simplicity, cleanness and functionality? Go look for Bauhaus, Ikea
and industrial revolution in Northern Europe. Catholicism belongs to another
world. It belongs to the aesthetics of excess, over decoration, big European
cathedrals, ostentation, Michelangelo and Handel. In case of doubt look at the
pictures on that site: gold, purples, reds, churches full of Carrara marble.
Like Hindus and Muslims, Catholics preach humbleness but what they find
beautiful is actually excess and ostentation.

There is a reason why Italy succeeds on luxury goods (Armani, Ferrari, Murano
crystals, etc): they know that bling sparkles and that sparkles fascinate
people.

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krapp
<http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vatican_latin_atm.jpg>

Their atms apparently use the same or a similar font.

And have latin as a language option.

So yeah, a self-conscious attempt at maintaining brand identity through pre-
industrial skeuomorphic design or the priest in charge of the committee that
decides what fonts to use is a 90 year old man who just thinks it looks nice?

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Millennium
Someone in the Vatican's technology team is either very stupid or very, very
smart.

I'm coming to wonder if Comic Sans might actually be a valuable tool of
propaganda in the hands of a group beset by controversy. It helps endear you
to a beleaguered base while distracting your opposition: classic plain-folks
and derailing tactics in one neat package. As a bonus, bickering over the
choice of a font makes the opposition look ridiculous, which poisons the well
against them just a little bit more when they stop being distracted, AND gets
them to do all of this work for you.

A part of me likes making up conspiracy theories for fun. Maybe this is just
that part of me talking. But it's still fun, and I wonder how feasible it
would really be to use Comic Sans this way.

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brandonb927
Am I the only one who thinks that a world-wide presence like the Vatican needs
a new website?...

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benpbenp
I agree that it needs some work now, but I think it was pretty good for the
time when it first came out:
[http://web.archive.org/web/19980130005011/http://www.vatican...](http://web.archive.org/web/19980130005011/http://www.vatican.va/)

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emhart
First observations? Lots of photos of babies & kids. Looks almost like a
political campaign scrapbook.

Wondering if the use of sans was meant to similarly imply some sort of warmth.
The conversational tone of the text, the babies, the font choice. The very
idea of having an interactive photo book in the first place. I mean...I can
understand people finding it a bit ridiculous. In fact, I self-identify as
Catholic and I find myself chuckling, but at least every part of this site
feels like a choice.

Oh, also? Looks like there is some sort of catholic analytics service run out
of Vatican City? <http://analytics.catholica.va/>

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kevinconroy
Let's all give up Comic Sans for Lent.

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trentlott
You're supposed to make it a sacrifice; something difficult.

Give up everything _except_ Comic Sans for Lent.

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Proleps
God recommends using Comic Sans. Both the discovery of the "God particle" and
the tribute to his official spokesman are published in it. Do not ignore this
and use it for everything from now on!

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krapp
I'm surprised given the background that they didn't go with papyrus.

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jenius
They did, check out the watermarks on every image haha

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jenius
Also note that all the watermarks on the images are papyrus

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alexhjones
"Grace, lavished upon us by God and communicated through the Mystery of Comic
Sans, is an absolutely free gift with which nature is healed"

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pretz
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