Why Typography is so Important

For any website, the most important component would be the content. So naturally, you would want it to be as simple and straightforward as possible, and not have to worry about visitors trying to decipher cryptic messages hidden behind poor color choices and messy fonts.

This is why font choice and the overall consideration for typography are important. By choosing appropriate font faces, and assigning hierarchy where needed, you can greatly decrease confusion. Leaving visitors happy to stay and read your content.

The two most important qualities that your text should have are a readable font, and high contrast. Many sites today choose a sans-serif font such as Arial, Verdana, or Helvetica as their base font because they are familiar and very easy to read on screens. They also come standard, so by choosing fonts such as these, you can be sure that the text will visually be the same on every screen.

Contrast is also very important. If your background is a dark color, such as black or deep blue or green, make sure to use a very light font color such as white, or a light version of another color that compliments the background. Neon colors or colors that are similar in saturation or brightness are generally not a good idea to use, since they can make the text difficult to read. ;Keep in mind that about 8-15% of the population has a degree of color blindness. Follow these ;best practices for creating contrast that is visible to visitors have this vision deficiency.

A third point to take into consideration is hierarchy. Not every bit of text on your website has the same level of importance, just as text on a poster or flyer would be. Most hierarchy within websites is determined by size, but can also be enforced by choosing another readable font, changing the weight, or color.

Many websites choose to use a different font because font choice can be just as effective of defining your site ‘s personality as images and graphics. With prominent hierarchal text, such as menu items, page titles, and other header text, you can take advantage of using a unique font because you know the reader won ‘t have to spend much time reading it.

Thankfully, the web world has advanced to the point where web fonts are not nearly as limited as they once were. There are many sites such as Google Web Fonts that allow you to choose from a library of fonts specifically meant for web, as well as Font Squirrel which allows you to embed certain fonts right into your website.