
Make Your Texts More Readable - merttol
http://www.merttol.com/articles/typography/make-your-texts-more-readable.html
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crux
These tips are written with legal writing in mind (and desirably so; as a
cohabitant of a recent legal graduate I can report that the legal world has
some awfully retrograde typographical principles), but I would not hesitate to
recommend all of them to anybody writing block text.

And I must say, an example like the paragraph from Oscar Wilde is as
beautifully composed a work of human art as I am likely to see on a daily
basis. Surely worth emulating in any field.

~~~
aerique
I thought that Oscar Wilde example was beautiful as well. Does anyone know
what font it uses?

~~~
zokier
Yes, it is beautiful indeed.

Does anyone have a guide for laymen like me for selecting fonts for text. The
Article mentions a huge list of fonts (New Baskerville, Book Antiqua, Calisto,
Century, Century Schoolbook, Bookman Old Style, Baskerville, Bembo, Caslon,
Deepdene, Galliard, Jenson, Minion, Palatino, Pontifex, Stone Serif, Trump
Mediäval, and Utopia), but doesn't explain the difference in them, or when to
use which.

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SlyShy
I would add these two tips:

Don't use gray text on a white background.

Don't be afraid of larger font sizes.

 _Cough_.

~~~
ugh
1\. The contrast is a bit on the low side. But generally grey text on non-
white background is the way to go. You have to reduce contrast a bit when
writing for the web. Straight black on white text is just a bit too much on
most modern LCDs. I would say they overshot a bit. Could also be the result of
different hardware displaying stuff differently. Bright and dim monitors
really make a difference.

2\. That’s why the FSM gave you CMD+. The proportions are correct and that’s
all that counts on the web.

~~~
SlyShy
1\. Agreed. They have #666 on #f5f5ed, which is too much. A slightly colored
background allows you to use #000 without it looking harsh. I like
combinations such as #000 on #fcfaf4.

2\. Larger font size makes up for lower contrast. The proportions can be
correct, but if the text is low contrast the size should be upped to
compensate. Ctrl++ is an extra gesture that annoys users (especially when they
have to Ctrl+- when they return hit back). Why not make things easier for
users?

~~~
ugh
See, if I were to watch this website on my crummy 1024x768 LCD the font would
be positively huge :)

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baddox
I especially like the last thing I read on that page: "Maybe you may want to
share this."

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ellidi
Comic Sans ftw!

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detcader
"Cut down on long footnotes and long block quotes. Because block quotes and
footnotes count toward the type volume limit, these devices do not affect the
length of the allowable presentation. Note: Does not apply to House of
Leaves."

