There may be some web and graphic designers that claim that certain fonts are overused, but there may be a reason why certain fonts are seen everywhere on websites. They are fonts that are easy to read.
When it comes to designing a logo, you may want to stay away from such fonts as Times New Roman, Arial/Helvetica, Impact, Papyrus, Comic Sans, Copperplate, Bank Gothic, Brush Script and Courier. But when it comes to choosing the right font for your website’s main content, you want to stick with a font that is readable.
Relationship of Color to Font Type
One factor you should consider is the color scheme of your website. There is some evidence that certain color combinations affect readability negatively more when they are used with the wrong font. For example a yellow and green combination is more readable when the font is Times New Roman and less readable when the font is Arial. This appears to be connected with the way colors bounce off each other, creating a slightly fuzzy edge between them.
When choosing a color scheme other than black against white, compare the appearance of different fonts against the background. You may discover that certain fonts are easier to read than others.
Recognizing Font Families
Fonts come in four families. You have serif, sans-serif fonts, cursive and mono-fonts.
• Serif fonts are recognized by the little bars at the tops and bottoms of letters. Most newspapers and older books use serif fonts.
• Sans-serif fonts omit these bars. Many websites use san-serif fonts.
• Cursive fonts have more of a handwritten feel to them.
• Monospace fonts use a fixed space for each letter. This means that there will be a larger space between narrow letters such as i, l, and t. They may appear in either serif or sans-serif forms.
Choosing Which Font Family to Use
Never use a monospaced font. They are more difficult to read because spacing between letters is inconsistent. Courier New and Lucida Console/Monaco are monospaced fonts.
The real decision for you to make is whether you should use a serif or a sans-serif font. While there is some evidence that serif fonts are favored by older readers, ultimately your real decision needs to be based on the effect you want to create on your website.
Need for Web Safe Font Choice
If the font you choose isn’t available on the computer accessing your website, you lose control of the appearance of your website. This means you must choose fonts that are readily available on all computer operating systems whether they use Windows, Mac or Linux operating systems. Your CSS stylesheets should list more than one font so you are the one determining how your website will look.
Examples of Serif Fonts
Palatino Linotype and Book Antiqua are recognized on PCs, and Palatino is recognized on Macs. Times New Roman is the PC version while Macs may recognize Times or Times New Roman. Georgia is recognized by both PC and Mac.
None of these fonts, even when bold formatting is used are overwhelming. If your goal is a site that looks upscale, this font type will usually accomplish this.
Examples of San-Serif Fonts
There is a whole group of fonts that are quite similar to each other. The primary differences between them are based on how letters are kerned and spaced.
• Helvetica is only recognized by Mac while Arial is recognized by both Mac and Windows.
• Tahoma is the PC name and Geneva is the Mac name.
• Verdana is recognized by PC and Mac though Mac may also use the name Geneva (showing how similar these fonts are.)
• Trebuchet MS is recognized by PC and Mac.
• Century Gothic is only recognized by PCs so it may be better to choose Lucida Sans Unicode and Lucida Grande to guarantee both Mac and PC users have a positive experience on your website.
Sans-serif fonts tend to look modern and progressive.
Examples of Bold San-Serif Fonts
If you are looking for impact, then you may need to turn to the bold san-serif fonts. These fonts are good for headings.
• Arial Black is the name for Windows, while Gadget is the name for Mac.
• Impact is recognized by PC and Mac though Mac may also use the name Charcoal.
Using these fonts with extra large letter sizes should be considered carefully. They can read as aggressive, so only use them if that fits with the message on your website.
Examples of Cursive Fonts
The most common cursive font you will see on the internet is Comic Sans which is recognized by both PCs and Macs. While many cursive fonts are available on the internet for free, you have no assurance that they will already reside on your visitor’s computer. And many individuals are wary of websites that require them to download anything to function.
Comic Sans is appropriate for sites that aren’t seeking B2B customers. It tends to look less business professional, yet can work very effectively for a B2C target.
Ultimately, your choice of font for your website must consider readability, target market and the computers your customers access your website with. Beyond that, the best font is still to some extent in the eye of the beholder.
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