I can't seem to find a font weight lower than 300 using Open Sans anywhere. In photoshop I can get the desired look from selecting 'Light'. Helvetica Neue's 100 weight is what I'm looking for. Is there a way I can make it myself?
1
votes
Off-topic as this is not a programming related question.
- Syon
People here tend to say that there is no Open Sans 100. This is partly true. Neither Google Fonts, Typekit nor Font Squirrel list a font weight of 100. However Dropbox uses this weight and references the font "Open Sans Thin" on their homepage. I am not sure if they just designed it themselves.
- Lukas
3 Answers
2
votes
There is no font weight typeface of Open Sans lighter than 300. Since Open Sans is under Apache License, you may create derivative works, such as typeface similar to Open Sans Light but lighter. Creating a typeface, with a font editor, is nontrivial, especially if the result should look good.
What you see in Photoshop is generally different from what you see in a browser, and different browsers render fonts differently, too.
0
votes
The lightest weight of Open Sans is 'Light', which is the 300 weight. You should be able to use it by including this stylesheet from Google Fonts:
<link href='http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Open+Sans:300' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'>
Be sure to set the correct font-weight in your CSS where you intend to use Open Sans. Example:
h1 {
font-weight: 300;
font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif;
}
0
votes
The Open Sans Light (300) appears to be "lighter" in weight than Helvetica Neue Light when comparing same Cap heights Specimens with the Specimen [link] you provided.
If you want to get something "lighter" than 300, try converting the text to outlines and increase the outline stroke (in the bg colour) to cover the flabby part. The shortcut will come back and haunt you since the text becomes artwork and can't be edited without redoing the text. I wouldn't suggest this for more than a word or two.
