Serif Fonts
What's the difference between
Serif and Sans Serif fonts?
There's a really good website at Rutgers University that explains a lot about serif fonts. Maybe more than you want to know. But I found it very informative.
Oldstyle:
Official definition: angled serifs on lowercase letters, moderate thick/thin transitions, and diagonal stress.
This isn't hard and fast as some fonts have diagonal stress (oldstyle) and very strong thick/thin differences (modern). I put most fonts with diagonal stress here, but some had such strong thick/thin differences, I put them in Modern.
Transitional types:
Official definition: vertical stress and slightly higher contrast than old style typefaces, combined with horizontal serifs.
This category has fonts that slide from oldstyle into modern, sometimes at the same time. I used font categories found on various sites. Some fonts are both here and either oldstyle or modern, as they seem to get sorted into both places.
Modern types:
Offician definition: sudden-onset vertical stress and strong contrast. Modern serifs and horizontals are very thin, almost hairlines.
This category is fairly easy to sort into. If the serifs are hairline, it's modern. Except that some people put diagonal stress (oldstyle) with hairline serifs.
Serif fonts can be found in these other categories, too.
And a new category, Handwriting with Serifs