More than Just a Pretty Typeface
Choosing the right font for your Web site copy is important because it affects the way readers perceive your site and your company. Typeface also plays an important role in readability. As you know from your own Web surfing experience, hard-to-read text is quickly skipped over. So if your Web site uses an indecipherable font, you can bet visitors won’t strain their eyes to read your message.
Nowadays, the art of choosing a font applies to more than just Web developers as non-technical employees find themselves updating Web site text with content management tools. In many cases, style sheets force a particular font and style to be used throughout the site, but content editors often have the freedom to choose different fonts for headings, sub-headings, body text, footer text and link text.
Best practice is to pick the most readable and visually relevant font. Unfortunately, this is easier said than done. Experts do not always agree on which are the most readable or the most suitable for the Web. When choosing a typeface, the first thing to consider is that there are a limited number of Web fonts available. “Web font” means the typeface is universal and that almost every computer on the market can render it. Right now there are seven standard Web fonts from which to choose: Arial, Times New Roman, Verdana, Georgia, Trebuchet, Comic Sans and Courier New.
Which of these fonts are the most readable? And how can Web developers and content editors alike select the appropriate font to communicate their message and ensure their audience can actually read it? The best place to start is to analyze the standard Web typefaces and understand how the character and readability of each affects its use in Web design.
Arial:
This common font is the default for many programs, including Microsoft Word. Because it is so common, Arial may not be the best font to use when trying to make a statement or differentiate from competitors. Readability is good except at small sizes where it becomes harder to read due to close spacing issues.
Times New Roman:
Times New Roman (also known as Times on Mac machines) is a serif font. Serif fonts are non-structural details on the ends of some of the strokes that make up letters and symbols (the lines running at the bottom of Ts, Ms, Ns, Fs, etc.). This is the most commonly used serif font, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it is the best choice as it can be difficult to read below 12pt.
Verdana:
Verdana is widely available and widely used. Easy to read at just about any size, this font is good for menus as well as headings. Microsoft commissioned the creation of Verdana back in the late ‘90s because it needed a font specifically for Web use. So far, that thinking has paid off as Verdana is used on more than 90 percent of all computers in the United States. Because Verdana does not have serifs, its clean simplicity lends itself well to more modern-looking Web sites.
Georgia:
Georgia is another serif font. It was created out of the need for a more legible Web serif font. Much easier to read than Times New Roman, Georgia was bundled with Internet Explorer 4 to provide a better option than its predecessor. Web designers typically use it to give their sites more of a sophisticated or literary aesthetic.
Trebuchet:
Trebuchet is a sans-serif typeface that was designed for Microsoft in 1996. This font has grown in popularity with Web designers in the last few years due to its high readability and personality. Trebuchet is a great font selection for headings or body text on any Web site (it’s our font of choice).
Comic Sans:
This font could well be the bane of designers everywhere, mainly because it is overused and often appears in inappropriate business communications. Comic Sans is a poor font choice for corporate Web sites. Think about it. The name, for one thing, has the word “comic” in it. Secondly, the typeface resembles the writing in comic books. Because of these unprofessional associations, Comic Sans on a Web site could easily undermine the credibility of the organization. The font does have its advantages, however. No matter how unprofessional and unsightly it may be, studies have shown that Comic Sans is highly readable and works well for people with dyslexia and other reading disorders.
Courier New:
Despite its moniker, Courier New is really quite old as its base font, “Courier,” was created in 1955. It is the default font for HTML and code, and because of this, Courier New is rarely used in Web design. It is a monospaced type, meaning the spaces between all letters is the same. This makes it difficult to read. Even though it is a universal font, Microsoft is working to replace it with a new font designed for Vista called “Consolas.”
The bottom line is this: Your Web site should look good and be easy to read. Choose a font that fits the character of your site, is readable, and is widely available across many browsers and operating systems. Abide by these guidelines and you can’t go wrong.
