alt Hacker NewsPart of the reason Arial is so dominant is because it's proportioned the same as Helvetica, meaning it can be swapped in to avoid licensing fees without affecting document layout.
Part of the reason Arial is so dominant is because it's proportioned the same as Helvetica, meaning it can be swapped in to avoid licensing fees without affecting document layout.
I don't think any designer has cared about that in the last 30 years. Perhaps not ever.
Arial is popular because people see it and say "good enough!".