The computer screen challenges my long-held preference for type
with serifs. I find that the graceful forms that I so admire cannot
survive the transition to the coarse medium of a cathode ray tube
or plasma display. The sturdy sans-serif wins the day in the digital
realm.

Having made that disclaimer, I can confess that serifed type
wins my vote for favorite style of type on paper. I've had a life-long
love affair with books -- the type, the ink, the paper, the binding (not
to mention the contents). I see the serifs as a transition from the pen
or the printing block to the paper. I tend to perceive books as the end
product of a process of physical events, beginning with the author's
flow of ideas. The cycle from idea to pen (or printing block) on
paper, and finally to the finished work, has been modernized, but it is
still a cycle, and the serif is its reminder. When I hit a key on my
keyboard, and the letter or number instantly appears, I've lost that
sense of process. For me, the appearance of characters on a screen
follow more directly upon the idea. Think of the words and let your
fingers make them manifest on the screen. Gone the paper, the ink,
and alas, the serif.

Ingeborg Endter