Recommended Future-Proofed Font for End-User Applications

Question

I have a number of applications which use the default font - MS Sans Serif. On new machines this font is looking increasingly dated and wiry.

I switched to Ms Reference San Serif which looks bolder and crisper, however on many client PCs this doesn't seem to be installed by default.

What are the best practice future-proofed font(s) to use?

N.b. The applications are written in Delphi5 on a Win7 PC.

Many Thanks

Answer 1

Your basic approach is incorrect. You are hard coding a font at compile time. Instead you should set the font at run time based on the user's preferences. Call SystemParametersInfo with SPI_GETICONTITLELOGFONT and SPI_GETNONCLIENTMETRICS to find out the user's preferences.