The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
Times New Roman vs Comic Sans
Two of the most recognisable fonts on any Windows machine, and almost total opposites. Times New Roman is a dense, economical serif that Stanley Morison and Victor Lardent drew for The Times newspaper in 1932, while Comic Sans is Vincent Connare's 1994 casual sans, modelled on comic-book lettering for Microsoft's speech-bubble interfaces.
Times New Roman is a commercial font, so it is shown here in Tinos, its closest free alternative. All free alternatives to Times New Roman → Comic Sans is a commercial font, so it is shown here in Comic Relief, its closest free alternative. All free alternatives to Comic Sans →
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
- Times New Roman is a serif adapted from Monotype's Plantin to fit more words per column while staying legible in newsprint, so it sets compact, formal body text.
- Comic Sans is a non-connecting, hand-lettered sans inspired by the lettering in The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen, built to read as friendly and informal rather than efficient.
- Times New Roman was commissioned by a newspaper and commercially issued through Monotype, whereas Comic Sans was drawn in-house at Microsoft after Connare saw Times New Roman used in Microsoft Bob's speech bubbles and judged it too formal.
- Both are commercial fonts bundled with Windows but owned by Monotype and Microsoft, so embedding or serving either as a webfont means licensing fees rather than a free download.
Times New Roman
Reach for Times New Roman when the brief calls for conventional, dense, authoritative text — academic papers, legal documents, and anything a reader expects to look like print.
Comic Sans
Reach for Comic Sans only when a deliberately informal, hand-drawn tone is the whole point — children's materials, classroom handouts, or playful speech-bubble copy.