#21746
Accessible Web Typography: An Introduction for Web Designers
Text is your flexible friend; it can be transformed into audio or braille; used to describe non-text elements; and be presented visually in an infinite number of sizes.
Byrne, Jim. Scotconnect.com (2003). Design>Typography>Web Design
#21179
Beyond the FONT Tag: Practical HTML Text Styling
Since its introduction, HTML's FONT tag has been the predominant means of specifying font size, face, and color on the Web. Use of FONT is unfortunate on many counts, not least of which for Web developers is the tedium and bloat of adding, e.g., '...' dozens or even hundreds of times to complex table-based pages. Modem users suffer too: often more than 20% of a typical commerce/portal site's weighty HTML code consists of FONT and its attributes. FONT is slow.
Fahrner, Todd. Cleverchimp (1997). Design>Web Design>Typography
#20448
One of the lessons I learned at my mother’s knee was that you have to know the rules in order to break them properly. (Mother was a graphic designer.) The rules that are worth breaking are the ones you understand the purpose of – maybe you even agree with that purpose in general. There are plenty of stupid rules for the Web, rules that were put there by people who extrapolated too soon from too small a set of data. Those rules are no fun to break, kind of like removing a tag that says 'Do not remove under penalty of law' from a sofa cushion. We won’t bother with those rules today. Let’s go after the rules worth our time and effort. Given that, here’s my list of Web rules I’d most like to see broken, but only if they’re broken well.
Gunn, Eileen. Upper and lowercase Magazine (1998). Design>Typography>Web Design
#32072
Create Your Own Style and Flair with Custom Fonts
Are you tired of those same boring fonts for your web applications and print projects? Do you know most fonts are licensed and can’t be added to web applications? Well, you can solve that problem by creating your own fonts with FontStruct, a slick flash application that allows you to create nice fonts right from your browser and save them to your computer or server.
Robbins, Kyle. ReEncoded (2008). Articles>Web Design>Typography
#28395
In the web environment, text has enormous strengths. In many situations, using text delivers far better results than graphics. Web designers should be daring and use text wherever possible.
Hunt, Ben. Web Design From Scratch (2006). Design>Web Design>Writing>Typography
#19404
The Effects of Bold Text on Visual Search: The Downside of Highlighting
Everybody knows that by making a word bold that it will ‘standout,’ be perceived more readily and (obviously) processed faster. For example, which of the following formats will elicit the fastest performance by customer service representatives -- A or B?
Bailey, Robert. Web Usability (2003). Design>Typography>Web Design
#27527
The Effects of Line Length on Reading Online News
This study examined the effects of line length on reading speed, comprehension, and user satisfaction of online news articles. Twenty college-age students read news articles displayed in 35, 55, 75, or 95 characters per line (cpl) from a computer monitor. Results showed that passages formatted with 95 cpl resulted in faster reading speed. No effects of line length were found for comprehension or satisfaction, however, users indicated a strong preference for either the short or long line lengths.
Shaikh, A. Dawn. Usability News (2005). Articles>Web Design>Typography>Usability
#21222
We really don't have to be stuck in bland land anymore. Font embedding is here, which means that we can use just about any font we want to on our Web pages, and users will actually see it.
Mulder, Steve. Webmonkey (2002). Design>Web Design>Typography
#27301
The ability to customize fonts— in Mac OS, in word processing documents, in Web pages— is really nothing new. However, when it comes to changing fonts on Web pages, the mechanism is decidedly less intuitive and certainly less than easy. Having to litter a Web page with FONT FACE tags makes for larger files, and larger headaches as you weed through these tags to find that one misspelled word. CSS makes the process of selecting a font easy, and even better, it provides a fallback mechanism for those times when users don'’t have the fonts you wanted to appear.
Apple Inc. (2006). Design>Web Design>Typography>CSS
#24057
One of the original ideas behind the Web is that readers should have control over how things look, since only they know what color combinations, point sizes, and so on they find easiest to read on their particular combination of hardware and software. That said, there's a difference between designing for the World Wide Web, where your documents can be read by anyone, and designing for an intranet, an internal network that's accessible only to people within your organization. On an intranet, you can (theoretically) know exactly what hardware and software your readers are using, so you can control the look to a much greater extent.
Ivey, Keith C. Editorial Eye, The (1997). Design>Typography>Fonts>Web Design
#31984
HTML Museum: Font and Page Size
I want to spend some time on a series of articles on web design usability practices. I call this series, the HTML Museum. I hope to update it with articles that address past web design practices and why they are no longer in use.The first exhibit deals with font, text and page size.
Lanier, Clinton R. sense and usability (2008). Articles>Web Design>Typography>History
#13200
Intercultural Research in Page Design and Layout for Asian/Pacific Audiences 
We, Fuji Xerox, implemented an intercultural survey in page design and layout of customer documents for business machines such as copy machines and printers. The research covered the main regions in Asia/Pacific: Australia, Japan, Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan. We studied their preferences in printed colors, typography, page layout, and pictographs. The results show Asia/Pacific audiences share a lot of preferences in page design and layout, though there are some uniqueness in printed colors and pictographs. It also became clear American English is not a serious problem for people who are Queen’s English natives.
Ichimura, Mitsuyuki. STC Proceedings (2001). Presentations>Web Design>Typography>Asia
#27528
Is Multiple-Column Online Text Better? It Depends!
This study investigated the effects of multi-column displays and justification on reading performance and satisfaction of an online narrative passage. Participants read a short story displayed in one of six formats (one, two, or three columns, in either a full or left-justified format). Results showed a significant column x justification interaction with reading speed significantly faster for the two-column full-justified text than for one-column full-justified, and significantly faster for one-column left-justified than for one-column full-justified or three-column full-justified text. Post-hoc analyses indicate that the faster readers may have benefited most from the two-column justified format.
Baker, J. Ryan. Usability News (2005). Design>Web Design>Typography>Usability
#13611
Sometimes technological progress backfires, and the 'better' technology turns out to be worse for users. The Web is no stranger to this problem, and has experienced many innovations that would have been best avoided. Examples include frames, changing the color of browser scrollbars, and scrolling text. Another example of harmful Web technology comes with the increasing use of style sheets, which let web designers specify the exact size of text down to the pixel. Unfortunately, many designers are using this ability, leading to reduced readability of an increasing number of websites.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2002). Design>Accessibility>Web Design>Typography
#28339
Lists are commonly found on Web sites. These may be lists of, for example, people, drugs, theaters, or restaurants. Each list should be clearly introduced and have a descriptive title. A list should be formatted so that it can be easily scanned. The order of items in the list should be done to maximize user performance, which usually means that the most important items are placed toward the top of the list. If a numbered list is used, start the numbering at 'one,' not 'zero.' Generally only the first letter of the first word is capitalized, unless a word that is usually capitalized is shown in the list.
Usability.gov (2006). Design>Web Design>Typography
#19425
No Web page fonts should be less than 10-points, Optimal reading speed for most adults will be elicited with 12-point fonts (size=3). There is probably no reliable difference in reading speed for most adults when viewing common font styles (Arial, Verdana, Georgia, Times New Roman). Most users tend to prefer sans serif fonts (Arial, Verdana). Older users will benefit from type sizes that are at least 14-points.
Bailey, Robert. Web Usability (2002). Design>Typography>Web Design>Usability
#21842
It's the face you've always wanted. Font embedding on the Web may help you get it.
Fleishman, Glenn. Adobe Magazine (1999). Design>Web Design>Typography>Embedded
#19408
Optimal Line Length: Research Supporting How Line Length Affects Usability 
What is the optimal line length when reading prose text from a monitor? Certain aspects of usability have been researched for over 120 years. One active area of investigation has been the influence of line length on the speed of reading prose text. Weber (1881) made the first research-based recommendations when he suggested that an ideal line length was 4 inches (100 millimeters). He stated further that the maximum never should exceed 6 inches (150 mm). The same year Javel (1881) reported that line lengths should be no longer than 3.6 inches (90 mm). Two years later, Cohn (1883) confirmed that 3.6 inches (90 mm) was the best length, and that 4 inches (102 mm) was the longest admissible line length.
Bailey, Robert. Web Usability (2002). Design>Typography>Web Design>Usability
#22803
Power To The People: Relative Font Sizes
Relative font sizes may make websites more accessible — but they’re not much help unless the person using the site can find a way to actually change text size. Return control to your audience using this simple, drop-in solution.
Mihelac, Bojan. List Apart, A (2004). Design>Web Design>Typography>CSS
#28394
Everyone benefits from clear, readable text content. People with visual impairments benefit particularly.
Hunt, Ben. Web Design From Scratch (2006). Design>Web Design>Usability>Typography
#27539
Reading Online Text with a Poor Layout: Is Performance Worse?
This study examined the effects of enhanced layout (headers, indentation, and figure placement) on reading performance, comprehension, and satisfaction. Participants read text passages with and without enhanced layout. Results showed that reading speed and comprehension were not affected by layout, however, participants were more satisfied with the enhanced layout and reported it to be less fatiguing to read.
Chaparro, Barbara S., A. Dawn Shaikh and J. Ryan Baker. Usability News (2005). Design>Web Design>Typography>Usability
#27547
Reading Online Text: A Comparison of Four White Space Layouts
In this study, reading performance with four white space layouts was compared. Margins surrounding the text and leading (space between lines) were manipulated to generate the four white space conditions. Results show that the use of margins affected both reading speed and comprehension in that participants read the Margin text slower, but comprehended more than the No Margin text. Participants were also generally more satisfied with the text with margins. Leading was not shown to impact reading performance but did influence overall user preference.
Chaparro, Barbara S., J. Ryan Baker, A. Dawn Shaikh, Spring S. Hull and Laurie Brady. Usability News (2004). Design>Web Design>Typography>Visual Rhetoric
#31910
Right-Justified Navigation Menus Impede Scannability
Users scan lists by moving their eyes rapidly down the left edge. Menu items that are right-aligned make scanning more difficult.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2008). Articles>Web Design>Usability>Typography
#28702
Setting Type on the Web to a Baseline Grid
It's easier these days to embed a video on the web than it is to set type consistently or align elements to a universal grid.
Miner, Wilson. List Apart, A (2007). Design>Web Design>Typography
#28338
Even though it is important to ensure visual consistency, steps should be taken to emphasize important text. Commonly used headings should be formatted consistently, and attention-attracting features, such as animation, should only be used when appropriate.
Usability.gov (2006). Design>Web Design>Typography
