I have been obsessed with Greg Tate’s music criticism since the early 2000s, when I got interested in blogging about music. I can’t remember how I discovered Tate’s writing, but I had a binder full of his essays I printed out from the internet so I could read and reread them.

Tate had a distinctive style of writing and a voice of his own. He went beyond music and pushed as far as he could on the page. I pored over his Village Voice archive as well as his works at various publications, including Rolling Stone, Vibe, Spin, the Wire, and Downbeat. I devoured Flyboy in the Buttermilk again and again. I also savored Flyboy 2 and Midnight Lightning: Jimi Hendrix and the Black Experience.

Even though I didn’t know Tate personally, I was shocked and disheartened when I found out that he passed away on December 7, 2021. Since then I wanted to turn my binder into a tribute website, not only for me to read but for others to enjoy his writing.

By Greg Tate is a straightforward website with the focus on accessibility, readability, usability, and delivery. There are no ads, no trackings, and no third-party scripts. Typography is the priority. NaN Serf, designed Daria Cohen, Fadhl Haqq, Léon Hugues, Jean-Baptiste Morizot, Luke Prowse, and Florian Runge, was selected for its easy-to-read qualities and its striking display characters. NaN Serf Sans was chosen to complement its sibling and to handle complementary text. A full-width photo accompanies each essay for some visual enhancements.

This site is my unofficial tribute to the critic whose writing had inspired me. His legacy lives on. Thank you and rest in peace, Greg Tate.

Read essays written by Greg Tate.

For book design, the rule for setting a typical book is one to three typefaces. I broke this rule with Vietnamese Typography. Then again, Vietnamese Typography is not a typical book. Unlike a traditional book, my web book continues to be updated with new materials and expanded with new typefaces. Until the past weekend, I haven’t thought of keeping track of how many typefaces are used in the book.

Since all of the fonts on Vietnamese Typography are hosted on the server, I can easily audit the number of the font files. The site uses both static and variable fonts, however, it would be a daunting task to count the number of fonts. On the other hand, the number of typefaces are easier to figure out.

As of today, April 7, 2025, Vietnamese Typography uses 100 typefaces. Since the second edition of this book, the main text is set in Fern, designed by David Jonathan Ross. Headers and captions are set in Adapter, designed by William Montrose and Sláva Jevčinová. Those are the two typefaces that remain constant. Everything else changes.

For the title on the cover, I expand the random pool when I come across a nice display typeface. For type recommendations, I add a new text face when I can license it. For typographic samples, I use both commercial and open source typefaces. Here’s the list of typefaces being used on Vietnamese Typography:

1. Adapter
2. Adelle Sans
3. Albula Pro
4. Alright
5. Amica Pro
6. Aneto
7. Anton
8. Atlante
9. Bahianita
10. Ballinger
11. Be Vietnam Pro
12. Bild
13. Bona Nova
14. Bradley DJR
15. Bree
16. Bricolage Grotesque
17. Bungee
18. Cabin
19. Calistoga
20. Canicule
21. Captura Now
22. Case
23. Change
24. Clavichord
25. Club Lithographer
26. Cormorant
27. Cosima
28. Crayonette DJR
29. Dattilo DJR
30. Loes
31. Ebony
32. Euchre
33. Every
34. Exchange
35. Extraordinaire
36. Fern
37. Fit
38. Fjalla One
39. Forma DJR
40. Fragen
41. Frequenz
42. Fruktur
43. Gimlet Sans
44. Glyptic DJR
45. Halyard
46. Harriet
47. Horizona
48. Herbik
49. Imbue
50. Job Clarendon
51. Kaius
52. Klooster
53. Kukka
54. Kyrios
55. Lang
56. Lautsprecher DJR
57. Lavishe
58. League Gothic
59. Lentiform
60. Loretta
61. Macan
62. Map Roman
63. Mea Culpa
64. Megabase
65. Megascope
66. Megavolt
67. Megazoid
68. Montagu Slab
69. Name Sans
70. Neue DIN
71. Nickel Gothic
72. Oi
73. Ottavio
74. Output Sans
75. Pangea
76. Phudu
77. Platypi
78. Playpen Sans
79. Playwrite VN
80. Pliego
81. Polliwog
82. Poltawski Nowy
83. Portada
84. Queens
85. Rhody
86. Roslindale
87. Rumpus
88. Schotis
89. Sequenz
90. Shantell Sans
91. Skolar
92. Skolar Sans
93. Soprano
94. Texturina
95. Thow
96. Tortellini
97. Truculenta
98. Warbler
99. Water Brush
100. Xunga

It’s just a coincidence that Vietnamese Typography is using 100 typefaces. It’s definitely worth celebrating, but the site will continue to expand. Keep an eye out.

This sample features a collection of English idioms translated into Vietnamese. I selected these idioms from Tiếng Anh Tèo and Người Việt Mình Nói. The page is typeset in Cosima and Kukka, designed by Anita Jürgeleit. Check out Idioms: Thành ngữ.

Kristin Bair’s fourth novel, Clementine Crane Prefers Not To, will be published on October 14, 2025. I gave her website a new coat of paints to reflect the new book. I have the pleasure of working with Kristin since 2009. I read all of her previous novels and couldn’t wait to read her latest. Congratulations, Kristin.

Welcome to the 2025 rendition of Visualgui. The change is in the typography. Back in February, I set the blog in AT Lang, designed by Stephen Nixon, and AT Lang Gothic, but the Gothic sibling did not support Vietnamese at that time.

I typically don’t set my body text in a sans serif typeface; therefore, I wanted to change it up. AT Lang Gothic is the main text face complemented by AT Lang for headers and Recursive, also designed by Nixon, for dates and codes.

This redesign has lots of white space, especially on the right of the screen, which is similar to the thumb space in a book. I want this blog to have a book feel to it, but a modern book, instead of traditional long books that are set in a serif text face. I hope you will enjoy reading the new version.

I joined George Mason University in October 2011. I designed, developed, and maintained the law school website from 2011 to present. Take a look at the evolution of the law school homepage from Mason Law to Scalia Law from 2012 to 2024.

In the past few months, I volunteered to design a brand new site for Liên Đoàn Hùng Vương 612. Check out the new site or read about the case study on my portfolio site.

A couple of days ago, I scrolled through screenshots of websites I had designed more than a decade ago. Many of these sites are now defunct. Nevertheless, I want to keep an archive of my past work on my portfolio.

I wish I had kept my early projects back in 2000. I graduated from La Salle University in 2001. That means I have been creating websites for at least 23 years.

There were times I wanted to do something else, but I have no other talent. The only thing I am decent at is web design. It pays the bill and helps me raise my family. I am grateful for that.

I don’t know what the future will hold. I hope I can continue to survive until my retirement.

In June, I helped brought badòngthơ (tercets) by Physician-Poet Cao Nguyên online. At the time, the site only featured 15 selected poems. Today, the entire book, which features 119 poems, is available on the website.

When Cao Nguyên decided to publish all 119 poems, I made some changes. I added the alphabet listing as a way to navigate between the poems. I also added the poem numbers for permanent links. Readers can now share a particular poem they like.

If you can read Vietnamese or want to learn Vietnamese, you will enjoy the delightful poems in badòngthơ. Many thanks to the author for making this book available on the web. If you want to support his work, you can still purchase a print copy.

As my wife and I headed toward the exit doors at a Great Wall supermarket, we spotted a table with free books. Most of them were about Buddhism. What caught my wife’s attention was a tiny book that could fit into her palm titled Heart of a Buddha.

She handed the book over to me because she knew I liked to read. As I flipped through the pages, I found many words of wisdom such as “Hatred never ceases by hatred, but by love,” “You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection,” and “Overcome …greed with generosity, …anger with lovingkindness, …ignorance with understanding.”

After reading a few quotes I posted online, friends and family members would like to read the book as well. That sparked my interest to turn it into a web book. According to the book copyright, reprinting is allowed for non-profit use.

As much as I loved the content from the book, I was not too crazy about the type choice. The entire book was set in Papyrus. For the web version, I set the body in Rosarivo, designed by Pablo Ugerman. For the title, I selected Arizonia, designed by Robert Leuschke.

What took the most time was not only copying, pasting, and writing the HTML, but also styling the text to match the pages in the book. Each piece of text in the book was set to create a dynamic rhythm and I would like to retain that for the web version with CSS styling.

I invite you to give it a read. A Heart of Buddha is not a religious book and I guarantee you will find happiness, wisdom, and serenity. Spread the love.

For more enlightening reading, check out a collection of web books I designed.