Sometimes typography is ignored in web design or not given much importance. You find text everywhere: web design, posters, books, billboards, t-shirts. The different elements of font can influence viewers just as color, graphics and other web design elements can. When a visitor views a web page, it is natural for him/her to search for text to get an idea of what the website is about. Text is essential to any web design and is an art and science that should be the highest priority of any web designer.
In web design and development, different web page elements complement each other to achieve an overall look. Typography is just one of those important design elements. Most web designers are concentrating on using typography-based design when it comes to designing web pages. Typography based design does not imply using only text for web site design but rather the fonts are used to create the shape, size and color impact too. The main ingredient turns is typography and other elements such as white space, graphics, and color complement the typography.
The typography used in print and that used on the web has certain differences. With website designs, you need to consider factors such as font color and size, readability and contrast.
- Monitor screens play differently with color and so it is important to adjust the contrast to avoid straining for easy reading. Usually, a white background and black text is easy to read because it provides high contrast ratios. The choice of color and related color theories are very important in web typography.
- The font size and the vertical space between lines of text should be considered for easy readability.
- When you choose a font style, the font size should be adjusted for one that that works well with your design and is easy to read.
- The font type, size, color, and weight should be controlled through CSS for all the web pages.
- Web designers who prefer using color should make sure that the text color is very different from the background color otherwise it would cause all colors to blend.
- The typography should provide hierarchy by highlighting headlines and concentrating on size and typefaces.
- Read the text yourself to get a fair idea of how it would appear to viewers.
- The three important web elements such as the white space, color, and shape should blend with the typography of the design.
Web Fonts for Web Site Design
There is a group of web fonts that work well on all computers and on all browsers and operating systems. These fonts are as follows:
- Courier
- Verdana
- Times New Roman (Mac OS equivalent is Times)
- Impact
- Trebuchet MS
- Comic Sans
- Arial (Mac OS equivalent is Helvetica)
- Lucida Sans (Mac OS equivalent is Lucida Grande)
- Tahoma (Mac OS equivalent is Geneva)
Web designers should, therefore, use different types of typography to improve the look of websites.
