Web Typography: The Do’s and Don’ts

Web typography is the art of choosing or arranging fonts that are designed and used creatively on websites. Typography incorporates typeface, type size, style, color, and shape. To ensure a smooth user experience, typography plays a crucial role in establishing a visual hierarchy. It assists users, helps them easily navigate through the website, and optimizes readability, scalability, aesthetics, and accessibility.

Web typography and user experience have a direct relationship. Consequently, it is a fundamental aspect that must be considerable for any designer. Typography can possibly transform the project into success or make it unusable either way. Due to the fact that web typography has a direct impact on the user’s experience (UX), it is preferable to have adequate knowledge of the subject. Web typography helps users understand and connect with the information accurately. Therefore, it is important to enhance the user experience while focusing on the dos and don’ts of it.

Do’s

The typeface selection describes the style of writing, and having knowledge of its classification is important because it enhances the readability of your text. There are distinct typefaces that should be used for body copy or headlines like logos, titles, and labels, and, on the other hand, there are other typefaces that are solely used for headlines. Typeface selection should be critically evaluated according to the suitability of the content and typeface principles.

Let’s have a brief look at the typefaces and which is best suitable for what purpose.

• San-serif is some sort of non-decorative, unlike serif. Best suited for digital screen displays, modern designs, or a contemporary look. For instance Ariel, Roboto, Helvetica etc.

• The script font is an informal, creative, and decorative sort of typeface, essentially used for expressive purposes like logos, invitations, greeting cards, and so on. For instance pacifico, Lucida calligraphy, brush script.

• Serif is best appropriate for the traditional and formal nature of content like academic or editorial content. For instance, Times New Roman, Georgia, and so on.

• Handwritten typeface is likewise Script typeface informal, creative, and casually friendly but the only difference is purpose and design among both. As suggested by the name, it contains handwritten characteristics and shows a personalized touch. For instance Comic Sans, Bradley Hands, and so on.

• Slab serifs are generally used for titles and headlines. These are blocky serifs and the most prominent ones, and generally thick in width. Primarily preferred for logo, editorial and retro designs, and branding. For instance roboto slab, Rockwell, etc.

• The display typeface is mostly for enormous headlines in posters, logos, branding, etc. They are bold, and decorative, and make a strong visual appearance. Slab serifs, art nouveau fonts, script, and brush fonts are an example of display fonts.

The font is pretty much as significant as the typeface; it is basically the implementation of a typeface. We must use a font that makes the text easier to read and more pleasing to the eye. The pairing of fonts needs to make sense and look good. The choice of web font determines the reader’s consistency, allowing him to read longer or shorter.

Kerning, tracking, and leading are important aspects of typography. Kerning helps with the readability of texts, so the text or pair of characters doesn’t look crowded. Tracking helps control the space evenly between text layer characters, it is similar to kerning and helps with horizontal aspects of text structure. Whereas leading is a technique to adjust the vertical aspect and help align the lines to not overlap with the above or below lines. All three must be critically evaluated and analyzed as they display harmony and avoid your content being cluttered.

Typography must have a hierarchy as it establishes the order of the context on your website. Without order, important texts are compromised to grab the attention. Therefore, it is needed to build the order. For instance, headline, sub-headline, paragraph title, and then body.

Alignment of text depends upon the type of content you are writing. Using an appropriate alignment for your content will make it more cohesive and easier to read. If it is not aligned correctly, your website may appear to be broken to the viewer; this will impact the credibility and cost you the reader’s lack of interest in your content. We can clearly see that the above example demonstrates what alignment is right for which content. Alongside alignment, the accessibility of typeface should be for all screens to ensure a better user experience.

Don’ts

Typefaces that aren’t absolutely necessary and classic should be avoided. It displays the content as irrational, inconsistent, and cluttered and it has a huge drawback as it confuses or distracts the reader from the context, and makes the message unclear.

Similarly, letter spacing and line spacing should not be too much or too little. Too little affects the writing’s readability while too much breaks the consistency. Therefore, typeface hierarchy is crucial.

No attention to kerning, tracking, and leading makes the text highly unpleasant, and cluttered and puts legibility at risk. The font size (bold, italic whatever) is significant because it allows the reader to read comfortably. In the above example, we can see how not concentrating on these aspects makes the text appear unpleasant and, consequently, loses the reader’s interest. Therefore, your content must have appropriate space and correct font so it serves its purpose of enticing the reader by conveying its message clearly.

Avoid using bad font and similar font pairing because they make the hierarchy hard to understand and confusing. Alongside the font, always double-check that there is legitimate contrast between text and background because it may sabotage the reader’s readability, and focus and make it illegible. Font pairing is important because it distinguishes and separates the text you want to highlight in order to grab the attention. Otherwise, there is no distinction in the text for readers to find interesting, and disassociates them to spend more time on your site.

Last but not least, Runts and widows in typography must be avoided at all costs because they jeopardize the writing’s readability and consistency. They ought to be handled quickly when they emerge in the text.

Nevertheless, numerous tools are dedicated solely to help with fonts and text creation, manipulation, and enhancement. These tools are for literally every element involved in typography such as kerning and letter-spacing tools, typeface testing and pairing tools, typography plugins, typeface identification tools, typography editors, typography software, font libraries, etc. The primary goal of these tools is to empower designers to attain mastery over the desired aesthetics and readability demanded in their work.

Wrapping Up

In conclusion, web typography is a powerful aspect because it displays your brand reputation and creates a compelling online experience. By following best practices you can see better & and improved results with respect to clarity in your services, attracting and retaining the readers, establishing proper information hierarchy, reinforcing consistency, contributing to the creation of harmony to smoothly educate viewers about your offering, and, most importantly, reflects the values of your brand.

Boztechco, the digital agency understands the importance of web typography in creating a good digital user experience. They excel at integrating typography’s best practices in web design and development techniques to empower businesses to stand out of the crowd in the digital realm. So, whether you are an entrepreneur, startup, or small business seeking a transformative digital presence, consulting professionals is the ideal decision. There is no need to delay, start your digital journey right now and here!