Honestly, I could write an entire book on how typography is the most important element to making a good site. Bad use of type can lead to a disorganized mess of a site that the client will never get business from. So today I would like to discuss two simple rules you can use to help build a cleaner webpage.
Font-Size
The way I think of website building is that I am building a road for the user to travel down. Now, this road has many side?roads but you want to get them to go down a certain path that leads so that your client gets to profit. You direct there do this by using font-sizes. The rule to follow is this one size for the header(30-40px), one size for sub-headers(18-25px) and one size for the body(12- no more than16px) the bigger the font the more likely it is that someone will pay attention to it but any more than three font-size or too many font sizes that are similar size you lose your audience and your client loses profit. So best to keep with a simple rule of threes.
Typeface
Speaking of three the general rule of typefaces is don’t pick any more than three typefaces for a single page. While most of the time you can get away with two typefaces(this is what I usually?do) sometimes you need a display font as the header font because your client wants to give off a more elegant feel. Whatever you do though make sure that the body and sub-header fonts are clear and easy to read. Lots of people hate reading and when you make it harder by picking a dumb cursive typeface I guarantee?your site will fail. A display typeface next to a san-serif font always looks good and that is the preferred by the design community at large.
Thank you for taking the time to?read this if you like this I am posting a series of posts talking about things to study to become a web developer. There are a few resource links talking more about typography and I hope you have a pleasant?day.
Resources
20 Typography Rules Every Designer Should Know?-While more talking about graphic design still an interesting read.
10 Golden Rules You Should Live By When Combining Fonts: Tips From a Designer – Nice blog post about combining typefaces
Designing with Type, 5th Edition: The Essential Guide to Typography– If you want something more official?then here is a cheap book that I bought for a college class that has taught me a lot. I recommend the Kindle version because it is cheaper.
