Look closely at a capital “Q.” Tahoma’s tail starts inside the bowl. Look at the “a”—it is a double-story design (like a printed book) rather than a single-story one (like handwriting). This gives Tahoma a serious, architectural feel.
When a young designer does see Tahoma Italic, their reaction is usually revulsion: “The x-heights don’t match! The rhythm is broken! The Roman ‘a’ looks nothing like the Italic ‘a’!” tahoma italic
.retro-italic { font-family: 'Tahoma', 'Segoe UI', 'Geneva', sans-serif; font-style: italic; font-size: 11px; /* The sacred pixel size */ letter-spacing: 0px; text-rendering: geometricPrecision; /* To preserve that jagged edge */ } Slap that on a modal dialog box. Put it on a tooltip. Use it for a caption that you want to feel slightly off, slightly human. Look closely at a capital “Q
If you are reading this on a Windows machine, there is a good chance you have ignored Tahoma for the better part of two decades. You have scrolled past it in dropdown menus. You have seen it power the tabs of your old Internet Explorer. You have watched it render the system dialogs of Windows 2000, XP, and Vista—dutiful, clean, and utterly invisible. When a young designer does see Tahoma Italic,
But today, I want to talk about its shadow. Its elusive, slightly awkward, fiercely practical cousin.
The italic , however, is where the machine stutters. Most sans-serif italics are simply “obliques.” Take Arial, Helvetica, or MS Sans Serif. When you hit the I button, the computer doesn’t draw a new letterform. It just mathematically shears the upright letters. The result is a windblown version of the original—functional, but soulless.