Filed under: iPod Family, How-tos, TUAW Tips, iPhone
TUAW Tip: Say goodbye to Marker Felt notes
Many iPhone users have expressed negative feelings toward the default Marker Felt font used in the Notes application. Personally, I dislike it enough that I used a manual hack on my previously jailbroken phone to get some Helvetica relief, but since I haven't felt the need to jailbreak since the 2.0 upgrade, I've been living with Marker Felt for now. We got a tip today, though, that offers a quasi-solution for those willing to deal with a little extra hassle.A quick Google search reveals that we're not the first to discover this, but we thought it was worth sharing. If you're interested in trying it, go into the International keyboard settings in the General section of your iPhone or iPod touch Settings and select any of the Chinese keyboards in addition to your current keyboard.
Now, go into an existing note or create a new one in the Notes application. Switch the keyboard to the Chinese keyboard using the globe icon to the left of the spacebar and enter a single character. Backspace it and switch back to your native keyboard. Presto, the note should be free of Marker Felt. Saving the note will reveal that the title in the list has also undergone the same font change, and future edits will maintain it.
Adding new notes will require this little tweak every time, so it's not an all-around solution to the lack of font selection in Notes. If you're really, truly bothered by Marker Felt, however, it's a step in the right direction.
Thanks David!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Timothy Hankins said 2:37PM on 8-05-2008
But Marker Felt is so CUTE! I'd take Comic Sans and like it if only Notes would sync with ANYTHING.
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mark said 3:20AM on 8-06-2008
I like it, too. For one thing, it's *compact* -- as it should be, for the iPhone's small display -- so a line can hold a fairly remarkable number of characters.
I really don't understand the dislike of Marker Felt. (And I don't think it's as widespread as reported. I think the few, "squeaky wheels" have given a false impression of there being many.)
niknak said 2:39PM on 8-05-2008
God, who cares about the font? I want to know when we're going to be able to sync the damn things?
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Adam S said 4:54PM on 8-05-2008
AMEN.
Matthew Granda said 2:40PM on 8-05-2008
I rarely use Notes.app, if anything. I'd create a new e-mail and send it to myself. That way I have access to it on my computers & iPhone.
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yubo said 4:03PM on 8-07-2008
ONENOTE
Do an App Store search for One Note. Way, way better than the native Notes.app on the iPhone. Free App.
Not affiliated. Just someone who HATES the marker felt font. (Sorry niknak)
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Jeff said 2:57PM on 8-05-2008
marker felt is perfectly readable to me - i just want to sync 'em.
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Bobnease said 3:19PM on 8-05-2008
Thanks for the tip... I don't really mind marker felt, but since I don't speak or read any Chinese dialects, I'd never messed around with any of their keyboards. The hand written mode is amazing, and allows you to draw characters using your finger. I didn't realize that the iPhone had any features like this at all. Fascinating.
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CaptSaltyJack said 4:45PM on 8-05-2008
Oh what a rip! How come the Chinese keyboard gets the handwriting input but Japanese doesn't? :( Not that I speak or write Japanese, but still...
Patrick Maley said 4:56PM on 8-05-2008
this is a weak hint. aren't there bigger productivity gains out there?
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Jeremy Villaroman said 4:00PM on 8-05-2008
I'm not sure if I hate Marker Felt enough, but it's good to know that should I develop a disdain for it, I can do something about it.
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Galley said 4:22PM on 8-05-2008
What's with the universal hatred for Marker Felt? I, for one, like it.
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jim said 4:59PM on 8-05-2008
Hey! I did that by accident, but I couldn't figure out what I did. It happened when I was showing off the language support to my sister's boyfriend so I guess that's what it was. Sweet
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gtdavemac said 10:16PM on 8-05-2008
I don't mind Marker Felt at all. Whatever font that is which you have shown on the article picture looks horrible!
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Alex Reid said 1:03PM on 8-06-2008
That'd be Helvetica, the font used for all other text in the iPhone's UI. Which is, as we all know, an aesthetic *disaster*.
Ondra Soukup said 2:11PM on 8-11-2008
well, on the note, it looks horrible ;)
stupod said 3:20AM on 8-06-2008
This also works with the Japanese keyboard so probably works with most keyboards that use a different alphabet.
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Klaus said 5:51AM on 8-06-2008
Ohhh, so that's the point of having multiple keyboards enabled, you can switch between them with the globe. That's excellent, I was kinda annoyed that my english mails would be corrected all the time because I use danish keyboard, but now I can just switch on the globe whenever I need to write in a different language. Thanks for the tip :)
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Rowan Pope said 7:21AM on 8-06-2008
Notes.app is a poignant reminder of the passing of the Newton. Marker Felt and the animated trash can are heartwarming reminders of the friendly green PDA who knew the writing was on the wall, despite promising so much.
R.I.P. Newton.
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belwell said 1:48PM on 8-08-2008
To use some well known SMS speak...OMFG!!!! I have never understood why Apple chose to make the Marker Font the font of choice for this app. It is impossible to read. Especially because of its compact-ness. Yes it would be nice to be able to sync these messages, but to be able to first read them is a step in the "write" direction! (sorry, I couldn't resist)
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