Web Typography For the Element of Design

[Tracy Oliver]

When designing your site you may want to decide what font you are
going to use before you start writing your content. Each different
style of font will render differently depending on your operating
system and your web browser. You web typography will also have a
different effect on each area of your site. There are a few things to
watch for when deciding which font to use. There are several different
fonts are the safe typography for web development.
Sans-Serif Font and Serif Fonts
To start things off there are two general categories of fonts. There
are sans-serif and serif fonts. A sans-serif is most common with Arial
and Verdana on a Windows operating System and Helvetica for a Mac
operating system. Sans-serif fonts have no flat spots on the text.
These small flat spots have a nick name of feet. A serif font is Times
New Roman and is the most popular serif font that developers use. The
best way to determine if your font is serif font or a sans-serif font
is to look at the bottom of the text. Serif fonts have small feet at
the bottom of their text and sans-serif fonts have clean cut offs at
the bottom.
Windows Fonts Linux Fonts and Mac Fonts
Each operating system has different style of fonts. Of all the popular
operating systems, most of them have the same fonts. There are a lot
of windows fonts that are not supported by the other operating
systems. Windows Vista has added a lot of different fonts to its
operating system. If you choose a font that isn't support by the
operating system, this will force the operating system to choose one.
The result can crash your web design. But choosing a font that is
supported by all operating systems will keep you design safe from
rendering incorrectly.
Web Safe Fonts These typography fonts have been common to all versions
of Windows, Linux and Macs:

Andale Mono
Arial
Arial Black
Century Gothic
Comic Sans MS
Courier New
Helvetica
Georgia
Impact
Times New Roman
Trebuchet MS
Verdana

Finding your Web Typography
When finding your font-family you need to find a good size and weight.
Font size can be very important. Make sure that you font size is
readable on all operating systems and browser. Font sizes verify
between operating systems. A font size of 12pt on a Windows operating
system is smaller than a font size of 12pt on a Mac operating system.
Font weight is also by the font size. When choosing a bold font
weight, size can change how much bold effects your font. A small font
size will take a small amount of bold, where a bigger font size will
give it a stronger bold. Bold is really use for focus points and
important items.
Typography can be Fun!
There might be fonts on your developing computer that you might love.
But it might not be the best choice to use for your site. Play around
and be creative with your web typography. Just keep in mind what your
users will be using different internet browsers and operating systems.
If their computer can't find your font, it will be the computer's
choice by default. This could change the whole outlook of your page.
Always check your pages in different browser and operating systems. An
easy way to do this is to use a website called BrowserShots.
(www.browsershots.org) It will run your website throw different
scenarios of internet browsers and operating system and output the
results in thumbnails.