Getting the text part of your website design right is not difficult. All you need to do is follow these guidelines…
– Only make use of fonts that are available on all computers, such as arial, helvetica and verdana. Though you might not consider these fonts to be the most visually appealing, they are the most practical ones. This is because they are the easiest to read on a computer screen; in fact, the verdana font was specifically created to be read on computer screens, rather than to be printed out.
Another reason is that every computer definitely has these fonts stored on their hard-disk. If you choose a random, fancy font, then many computers may not have it stored, and so you cannot be sure how your website is going to render on other people’s computers.
– Do not display text in small font sizes; if it looks too small, visitors to your website will not even try to read it. Whilst you may have excellent eyesight, many people do not, and so you have to take the middle ground rather than just making your website for yourself.
Going with a font size of 11 or 12 is generally recommended for the main body of your written content, and you should make your sub-titles and heading at least a font size or two larger.
– Keep your written content to roughly 15 words per line. This is necessary so that people only have to move their eyes to read your website, and not their head.
This number is based on studies that have been carried out which show that 15 words is as far most people’s field of vision will stretch without them needing to move their head. Not every line has to be exactly 15 words, as some sentences will, obviously, have a greater or lesser number of small words such as ‘to’, ‘and’, ‘a’, etc., so you just need to use that number as a rough guide.
This article was written by a website design expert who has more than 10 years experience in the industry. He is currently doing website design in Westchester, NY and can be contacted at http://kinneymedia.com