iOS 9 fonts and more

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On September 9, 2015, Apple released a series of new products and opened the iOS 9 GM Candidate version for developers and public test users to download. According to Apple's practice, unless there are major bugs, the GM version is basically the final official version, so I was happy to download it and upgraded the system through iTunes' "Option + Check for Updates". Generally speaking, this upgrade method is safe, stable, and healthy, but it does not rule out the possibility of problems, such as if you are not a good person...

When Mr. Feng upgraded his iPhone in this way, his iPhone went blank. He had to restore it completely and lost a week's worth of data. Since then, I have a new understanding of Mr. Feng. In addition, when I just upgraded to version 9.0GM, Mr. Feng upgraded his iPhone 6 to version 9.1. I secretly give him a thumbs up for his fearless challenge to 9.1 before 9.0 was officially released. Then Mr. Feng could no longer use WeChat and downgraded.

If I had known this would happen, I wouldn't have done it in the first place, right?

iOS updates much faster than OS X, at least there is no "redefined minute" by Apple. After a short white apple interface, a simple setup, your system has been upgraded to iOS9. The home screen interface that has never changed is simply... like the first time I saw it! There is no change at all. Am I fooled by Mr. Feng, Mr. Erye and my third cousin? No, I was the one who fooled them before. After a careful look, I finally saw the sexiest and most fascinating fonts on the planet (you violated the advertising law! If you have the guts, go and sue me): San Francisco and Ping Fang.

Okay, today we are going to talk mainly about fonts.

Although I have always relied on technology to make a living, I am a soft-hearted person. Compared with pure iron-faced programmers (who only recognize code and not people), I am a little more literary. I have always had a special liking for excellent design interaction and simple typography. Since I learned to read, most of my free time has been spent on reading, paper, electronic, electronic ink, ink only, and so on. If you read a lot, you will naturally pay attention to fonts.

In this information age, the most widely spread is not audio, video, or pictures, but text. No matter where you are, text follows you everywhere, flowing around you, and fonts can give text sound and feeling. You read text and see fonts every day. Different screens and different devices will show large and small texts and fonts. Some will make you feel elegant, pleasant, and sexy, while others will make you lose interest in reading. It can be said that fonts give text various possibilities. Many friends who like to use Mac and iPhone will be attracted by the fonts of iOS and OS X at first, just like me.

This time, Apple launched the San Francisco font and the Pingfang font designed specifically for the Chinese system. It is said to be "the first new font designed by Apple in nearly 20 years." After upgrading to the new system, I think this font is successful and in line with the aesthetic taste of the people. Because of the new system font, I even feel that almost every App has a new face and a warm name. Yes, it is so magical!

San Francisco is a simple sans serif font, which was first used on the 38mm and 42mm screens of Apple Watch. Clarity, softness and high readability are the most distinctive features of San Francisco. This font allows you to effortlessly grab information on the small screen of Apple Watch. There are two types of San Francisco fonts, one is SF and the other is SF Compact. Apple Watch uses the latter, which is the compressed version. The latest iOS 9 and OS X 10.11 both use SF. The corresponding Chinese font is what Apple calls the more authentic "Ping Fang".

San Francisco design

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SF and Ping Fang are fonts designed specifically for retina screens. They are refreshing and pleasant to read, high-end and classy, ​​low-key and luxurious with connotations... Well, because I am at a loss for words, it is difficult for me to describe these two fonts. I sent the screenshot to Erye, who is famous for his gorgeous words, and he just made a hoarse sound and finally uttered two words with difficulty: "sexy". Ping Fang should be between Dongqing Black and Lanting Black in terms of font shape and style. The font is round and full, "completely removing the flared mouth and the original system font's criticized glaring strokes, while maintaining the appropriate center and font (1)", which makes people never get tired of reading it. At the same time, SF font supports iOS's Dynamic Type dynamic font adjustment technology, which can dynamically adjust the character spacing and font height according to the font size, which is really good news for designers and programmers!

For many ordinary users who ignore fonts, they will murmur to themselves, "Isn't this just bold?" However, after looking at it for a while, I believe these users can also feel the elegant experience brought by reading and fonts. Even if it is difficult for users to realize, any subtle changes will have an essential impact on the reading experience. This is the responsibility and mission of designers and programmers.

Good design is like air, which may be transparent and imperceptible to users, but will be regretted only when it is lost. Cherish it!

The new fonts are one of my favorite features of iOS 9. I’ll be able to appreciate them after everyone officially upgrades, which is said to be tonight.

This update of iOS 9 has many functional improvements, please refer to: http://www.apple.com/cn/ios/whats-new/ for details. In subsequent articles, I will talk about some features that are rarely mentioned on the official website but I think are interesting and useful.