ABC News Online reports that the U.S. State Department has forbidden its standard typeface, Courier New 12, from use in official correspondence:

bq. In an internal memorandum distributed on Wednesday, the department declared “Courier New 12” – the font and size decreed for US diplomatic documents for years – to be obsolete and unacceptable after February 1.

Times New Roman 14 is to be used, to make the texts easier to read (I hope they don’t use block justification). The memo says TNR offers a ‘more modern look’. More modern than Courier, yes.

Courier is kind to the printer, if not the eyes, and is the best font to scan and OCR – I am often grateful to lawyers’ conservatism when I scan documents to process – but Times is OK too.

bq. There are only three exceptions to the draconian new typographical rules: telegrams, treaty materials prepared by the State Department’s legal affairs office and documents drawn up for the president’s signature, it [the memo] said.

(Via Ben Hammersley)