Web Typography and Readability

Typography is an essential element of web design that can greatly impact the readability and overall user experience of a website. With the increasing amount of content available online, it’s more important than ever to ensure that your website’s typography is optimized for readability. In this article, we’ll explore some tips and best practices for web typography that can improve readability and enhance the user experience.

Choose the Right Font

Choosing the right font is one of the most important aspects of web typography. The font you choose should be easy to read and legible, even at smaller sizes. Sans-serif fonts are generally considered more legible on digital screens than serif fonts, but there are exceptions. It’s important to choose a font that fits the overall aesthetic of your website and is appropriate for your content.

Use the Proper Font Size

Font size is another important factor in web typography for readability. Text that is too small can strain the eyes, while text that is too large can make it difficult to scan and read quickly. The optimal font size for body text is typically between 16-18 pixels, with headings and subheadings being larger. However, it’s important to consider the font and line spacing when choosing the right font size for your website. The relative difference between various font sizes on your webpage should make sense.

Font Harmonies

You probably should choose a font family based on the marketing approach of your brand or product. Serif fonts are minimalist while Sans serif is a little more intricate. Fonts are like clothing – you won’t know how it looks until you try them on. So test and preview many font combinations. A tedious but necessary process.

Consider Line Spacing

Also called line height or leading. Line spacing refers to the amount of space between lines of text. Proper line spacing can improve readability and make it easier for users to scan and read the content. The ideal line spacing is typically 1.5 times the font size for body text, but again, it depends on the font and the overall design of your website.

Use Contrast to Enhance Readability

Contrast is another important factor in web typography for readability. The contrast between the text and background should be high enough to ensure legibility. Dark text on a light background or light text on a dark background is usually the easiest to read. Avoid using low-contrast color combinations or using patterns or textures in the background that can make the text difficult to read.

Consider Text Alignment

Text alignment can also impact readability. Left-aligned text is typically the easiest to read, as it follows the natural reading pattern of Western languages. However, centered or justified text can be used for headings or short paragraphs. It’s important to avoid using too many different text alignments, as it can make the content appear disorganized and difficult to read.

Other Considerations

Letter Spacing and Word Spacing are useful settings and often used to make headings or captions a little more readable. Also consider stuff like bold, italic, text decorations, and small-caps.

Text-shadow can improve readability. You can make white text readable against a white background. Check out this page with a whole bunch of text shadow ideas.

Kerning

Letter spacing is not kerning. Kerning is applied intelligently depending on the shape of two consecutive letters. Letter spacing is an absolute set space between all characters. Here’s another example of kerning:

Kerning tightens up spacing in a sensible way.

You can apply this using font-kerning and text-rendering. Here is more info on kerning. Another useful reference: Principles of web readability.

In Conclusion