Typophile - Florin - Comments

By the way, Florian Hardwig

Ricardo Cordoba — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 13:57:16 -0700

By the way, Florian Hardwig talks a bit about the florin symbol in this Type ID Pop Quiz — you have to scroll down, almost to the bottom of the first page, to see his comments.

This is more of a build

John Hudson — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 13:40:37 -0700

This is more of a build issue, than a design issue. Response posted here.

bump

paul d hunt — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 13:25:18 -0700

bump

Note that the Unicode

paul d hunt — Thu, 10 May 2007 10:38:16 -0700

Note that the Unicode codepoint for the florin unifies this currency symbol with a hooked f, which is a letter in the alphabet of many African languages...

so, John, what’s the best way around this dilemma?

hrant — Wed, 23 Mar 2005 15:16:47 -0800

It's a standard character, so it's gotta be there, no matter how people use it or not.

The only non-intuitive but crucial thing about the Florin seems to be that it should really be slanted; an upright one is sort of a stand-alone unorthodox design statement; not suitable for a text font.

BTW, the Florin-as-folder usage is quite old, at least 10 years or something.

> the Unicode codepoint for the florin unifies this currency symbol with a hooked f

That's kind of dumb.
Will it be fixed?

hhp

John Hudson — Wed, 23 Mar 2005 12:33:43 -0800

Is there any reason it should still be included in a font?

Two good reasons:

1. It is a character in many standard 8-bit codepages, so if you are making a font that claims support for e.g. the Mac Roman or Windows 1252 codepages you had better include it.

2. Some users, particularly on the Mac, have begun using the florin symbol as an abbreviation for 'folder'.

Note that the Unicode codepoint for the florin unifies this currency symbol with a hooked f, which is a letter in the alphabet of many African languages. This can cause design issues in fonts for African languages, since the hooked f is not always sloped in the way the florin usually is, but is harmonised to the style of the other letters in the typeface.

pablohoney77 — Wed, 23 Mar 2005 12:02:39 -0800

history shmistory! ;^P

dan_reynolds — Wed, 23 Mar 2005 11:14:04 -0800

History books.

Florin

pablohoney77 — Wed, 23 Mar 2005 10:40:38 -0800

so i’ve read that the design of the florin symbol is based on the italic f. can anyone point me toward or give me any other tips on what makes a good florin? also... with the EU and all, is this character even relevant today???

hmmm... just found it on a site for defunct european currencies.
Is there any reason it should still be included in a font?