Typography is the science of type. It studies various components of fonts—including how they are formed, their common uses, and how easy they are for the eyes to read. Before the dawn of the “Digital Age,” typography was a specialized occupation, but since then has become a possibility for many different people to get involved in, including web designers. Typography and the Web are closely related, because type is the main communication vehicle used.
Characteristics of Type on the Web
Each time a web page loads into a browser, it is re-created. What you design may not be what the user sees, due to a number of factors such as a missing font or an outdated browser. It is important to keep these things in mind when designing a website and to provide the browser with more than one font choice so it can move through the font options until it finds one present on the viewer's computer screen. Providing multiple choices accounts for
variability—the differences in display depending on browser, standard installed fonts, and computer platform.
Thanks to CSS, or
cascading style sheets, designers can provide structural logic to visual logic. CSS allows for designers to control text elements with great efficiency because all a designer needs to do is define the text qualities of headings, body text, and any other text they wish to have. Then, any heading tags, p tags, or other tags in the code will have the text style (font, size, and color) as defined in the CSS. Making changes is as simple as changing the CSS code, and saving the file. It will update in all files where the CSS is attached.
Legibility
Several different things impact legibility when it comes to type on the web:
• Alignment: This refers to how the text is positioned on the web page: left, right, center, or justified. Because English is written and read from left to right, left alignment is the most commonly used choice. It is the easiest one to read.
• Line length: This refers to how long the lines of text are. Really long lines of text are harder to read than short ones are, but, if there is a long series of short lines, it may hinder legibility as well.
• White space: White space is very important to ensure the text is easy to read. If there is a lot of text on the page without adequate white space, the text will blend in too much and will not be read.
• Typefaces: Typefaces play an important role in how easy it is to read text. If the fonts are too fancy or have letters spaced too close together, it can make the text very hard to read.
• Type size: Type size needs to stay anywhere from 10 to 14 points, depending on the font, and how it is being used. Standard font size is 12.
• Emphasis: Text emphasis is very important, but it should be used sporadically so as to draw the eye to important parts of the text. Using it too much will take away the entire point of the emphasis.
Consistency
In order for typography to be effective on the web, it should be used consistently throughout the entire design. Once a style is developed for a header, body text, and link text, those styles should be used in the same places, in the same manners throughout the site. This will aid in usability, and keep the design simple.
Cross-platform issues
Macintosh computer systems and Windows systems are the same in that they connect to the Internet, and make the use of many computer applications possible. Fundamental differences between the two, such as the
fonts installed on the system and compatibility issues for browsers, make it difficult for web designers to find fonts and colors they can use in their designs that are guaranteed to be the same regardless of which platform a user uses to view their websites.
Accesibility
If people cannot read the text on the screen,
websites will not do well in terms of traffic. It is important to use colors that are easy to read. Make sure to use styles and fonts that work well regardless of color so if color changes are part of the design, it will not drastically impact consistency. Remember, many websites contain
information visitors can print —so killing their
ink cartridges while the printer fights to create the color it sees on the screen isn't a good idea.
Graphic Text
For designers who are worried about whether or not a font exists on the viewer's computer system, graphic text is an option to allow for freedom of font choice. By using whatever font the designer wants to, and then turning it into a graphic, the designer is guaranteeing the font will be seen on the computer. There are drawbacks to this approach, however, because the font choice may or may not have good readability, and the page load time will increase because graphics take longer to download.
To print well, consider top quality
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This was written by
Clickinks.com the home of Printer inks and Laser Toner
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