Use Garamond. It's a time-tested good font. Font geeks can make tons of wonderful recommendations of equal or better (I love Baskerville, which is in the 2010 pack, for example, but some people find it old-fashioned - it's a more open font than some other standards), but Garamond has been a go-to for many professional designers I've worked with in editorial contexts.

Avoid Times fonts: however standard they are, they were designed to save space for newsprint without consideration of compassion on the human eye.

Garamond doesn't use too much space but is easier on the eye on a printed page (it's harder on the eye when viewed on a screen - screen and print are different uses for considering fonts).

And I agree with Liam about Garamond.

Chiller.

What Liam said.

But whatever you choose, stick to one font family: use bold, use italic, use small caps, but all from the same family.

Mat-tieux
You're truly a bad boy.
I'm partial to "Californian."
Duh

The only font I ever purchased was ITC Golden Cockerel. Lovely symbol and title fonts....

Sorry, been a font geek wannabe (my younger brother is way more knowledgeable than I am) since the mid-1980s when I got to redesign my law review into Baskerville and then one of my clients early in my career was Bitstream.

Anyway, two quick passes that can help initially orient someone new to the world of fonts:

http://bestdesignoptions.com/?p=733

http://bestdesignoptions.com/?p=722

Just don't use Comic sans, whatever you do...

Linux Libertine

I might have to change my "political orientation" on Facebook...

My goodness! Thanks for the help, all of you. I've never quite understood the world of fonts, but it seems to make a great deal of difference to many people. I appreciate the gentle suggestions and generous advice.

Helvetica?

That's why I don't use Perpetua for space-constrained uses (the Abbey, like the Vatican, can afford to make programs as big as it wishes). Garamond is popular with designers precisely because it works well for space-constrained uses without becoming as evil on the eye as the Times family of fonts.

I don't want to overburden the OP on this point, but if the OP is interested: line spacing (a paragraph formatting option) for 10 pt type should be 12; for 12 pt type it should be 14. (Or, if one prefers, a multiple of 1.15 or 1.2 as a proxy for specific variations; for fonts with very long descending characters, larger spacing may be required.) Don't fully double space between paragraphs, but something like 6 pts between paragraphs.

Here's a handy guide for various font styles:

You know The Dull Men's Club - look it up, it's real - once had a debate over the merits of Helvetica as opposed to Arial. The club's motto is, "Celebrating the ordinary."

Hi, my name is Andy Motyka (*HI ANDY!*) and I have a confession.

I'm apparently the only person here that really doesn't give a crap about fonts.

I love fonts.
I think it might be a problem, actually.

My hand goes up with Andy Motyka. I mean, fonts can look nice and clean, or goofy and silly, but I don't understand the seriousness with which some of you are discussing these. Really, what am I missing? Why are fonts so important? No sarcasm intended. Why do fonts raise such a passion?

My hand goes up with Andy Motyka. I mean, fonts can look nice and clean, or goofy and silly, but I don't understand the seriousness with which some of you are discussing these. Really, what am I missing? Why are fonts so important? No sarcasm intended. Why do fonts raise such a passion?

The same reason organists get all interested and passionate about registration and voicing.

Imagine a non-musician goes to Mass and tries to sing the music when appropriate and tries to listen prayerfully when appropriate. He leaves Mass either feeling great, or not. He sings with gusto, or not. The music moves him, or not.

Now- obviously, there are a lot of non-musical things that contribute to any of those effects.

But we ALL KNOW (I assume) that a change in registration can mean the difference between boredom and fervor, that a tempo a shade too fast or a shade too slow can drastically change the character of a piece, that a slightly out of tune instrument causes headaches.

The non-musician does KNOW any of those things, but the effects are still there. He can't tell you what it was that caused his boredom or his fervor. And if he does guess, he's likely to be wrong. People blame boring text when the tempo is too slow. They say they don't like the organ because they've only heard it played boorishly. Whatever.

Fonts are the same way.

Some fonts have shown to increase comprehension, others to decrease it. Some fonts cause people to read faster, other fonts slower. Self-published books (until recently) always seemed a little cheap and weird, but most people couldn't put their finger on why - it was usually the font and other type-setting factors. Dictionaries tend to use particular fonts, newspapers other fonts, etc.

These things affect people, but people are blithely unaware of why they distrusted a website or believed the claims in some magazine.

People who aren't musicians think that pretty much anyone who can carry a tune or fake it on a keyboard is qualified to be a parish Music Director- and as long as the quality isn't EGREGIOUS there is no way for them to realize that someone with a better sense of vocal blend or a better handle on chant rhythm would have a huge impact on the quality of the liturgy and the effect that has on the community.

Typography - and more generally Graphic Design and Layout - is just like that, except WAY more people think they can put together a nice worship aide or programme than think they can play the organ.

Papyrus for EVERYTHING!

But Caslon is not in Word 2010.

Btw, Georgia is good for reading on a screen, but less so on a printed page. Garamond is the reverse. Fonts are funny that way.

Why do fonts raise such a passion?

First of all, fonts can make a document more beautiful or less; on the practical side, they can make it more readable or less.

Sans-serif fonts were invented in the 20th century for advertising use, and really just for titles; extended text in a sans-serif font tends to be less readable on paper than a serif font. On the other hand, research has indicated that sans fonts tend to be more readable on computer screens than serif fonts. (That's really counter-intuitive to me.)

Also, the choice of a font indicates a time horizon for the document. A document set in a sans-serif font -- for example, Helvetica, whose popularity peaked in the 1970s -- comes with the associations of that time: for example, disposable consumer-culture. It doesn't say: "designed for lasting beauty".

A document set in Caslon brings the 1700s to mind: if you're working for a local church that dates to the American colonial era, it could be very appropriate.

Ah, but the quill and inkwell. Now there were fonts! Come thou font of every blessing...LOL.

My preferred method is Century Gothic, set to small caps. This may not be best in all situations, though.

I've also used Georgia with success. It's like TNR, but a bit nicer.

Feel free to post PDF examples, folks.

I just started using Linux Libertine and Linux Biolinum for a project today. They're very nice.