Web Design Tips - Choosing the Right Font
- By Lloyd Roberts
- Published 05/30/2011
- Tools and Resources
- Unrated
Choosing the right font for your web design is crucial because fonts are the medium by which text is presented. Certainly, readability is the first factor to be considered when deciding what font to use. The look and feel of the font should shore up this goal. The type of font should also match the message your website wants to convey. For instance, it would not make sense to see bold and loud font types in a social graces website when it should be subtle and sweet.
The choice of font type and font family should also enhance the look of your website. Fonts are either serif or sans serif. Using just one font family for a simple web design is good enough, but a balanced mix of types and families done in a creative way can also add value and beauty to your design.
We'll be taking a look at what fonts you can use for your website design.
1. Choose one that matches the overall feel of your website.
2. Make sure it looks good in normal, italic and bold.
3. Check to see it doesn't become over pixellated at larger font sizes (eg when used for headings).
4. Always
specify alternative 'safe' fonts.
5. Check your web pages - do they get messed up if the default font is not available and one of your alternative fonts is used?
It's great to choose a funky font for a modern, funky website, but bear in mind that the font you choose will only show on your visitor's screen if that visitor has that font installed on their own machine, be it a PC or a Mac. If you're a Mac lover, and love the Skia font for example, this just will not show on PC's, which make up a large portion of machines that web surfers use to access the internet.
There are millions of Mac users - many of my associates swear by them, although I haven't made the jump yet myself. If you design using a Mac, bear in mind that a lot of the fonts you have access to, just won't be available to a lot of your website visitors who are using PC's. So specify alternative fonts in your CSS as shown below (use whatever selector you like), substituting for the fonts you like:
body {font: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;}
Note - when using a font which consists of more than one word, with a space or spaces between words, don't forget to use quotes, eg: "Times New Roman".
The choice of font type and font family should also enhance the look of your website. Fonts are either serif or sans serif. Using just one font family for a simple web design is good enough, but a balanced mix of types and families done in a creative way can also add value and beauty to your design.
We'll be taking a look at what fonts you can use for your website design.
1. Choose one that matches the overall feel of your website.
2. Make sure it looks good in normal, italic and bold.
3. Check to see it doesn't become over pixellated at larger font sizes (eg when used for headings).
4. Always
5. Check your web pages - do they get messed up if the default font is not available and one of your alternative fonts is used?
It's great to choose a funky font for a modern, funky website, but bear in mind that the font you choose will only show on your visitor's screen if that visitor has that font installed on their own machine, be it a PC or a Mac. If you're a Mac lover, and love the Skia font for example, this just will not show on PC's, which make up a large portion of machines that web surfers use to access the internet.
There are millions of Mac users - many of my associates swear by them, although I haven't made the jump yet myself. If you design using a Mac, bear in mind that a lot of the fonts you have access to, just won't be available to a lot of your website visitors who are using PC's. So specify alternative fonts in your CSS as shown below (use whatever selector you like), substituting for the fonts you like:
body {font: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;}
Note - when using a font which consists of more than one word, with a space or spaces between words, don't forget to use quotes, eg: "Times New Roman".
Lloyd Roberts
Need help with your business website design? Lloyd Roberts can help you with that. For more information on 123 Bournemouth Web Design please visit his site at http://www.123webdesignbournemouth.co.uk.
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