12 Typography Guidelines For Good Website Usability

Typography defines the speed and comfort with which text is read by your users. You may choose a type for its style, rhythm, mood and legibility which depends on the font type, spacing, size, orientation and kerning. When viewed as a whole, text is also affected by margins, word choice, line length and image placement — all of which impact the way with which your readers will read the content that you are presenting to them. Thus, whether you are doing a website or a brochure design, you need to have at least an understanding of the basic aspects of typography.

Every language has its own specific typographical approach. For instance, if any particular font looks good in terms of typography for the English language, that does not mean that the same impact is guaranteed in languages such as Arabic and Hindi. You are therefore supposed to work on the letter forms in order to make them look optimal and recognizable by the specific segment of readers that you are catering for. The only way to achieve this is to create or select a font that looks stylistically and anatomically exceptional whilst, at the same time, ensuring that it is readable. This is the mantra of enhancing your user experience and a factor of usability.

When discussing the topic of typography, I have noticed that two facts particularly stand out. The first one is that people are seen to be relatively tolerant for typographic variation and secondly, typography itself is pretty elastic in terms of how it is interpreted. Web designers generally term the factors of legibility and readability as the objective and subjective aspects of typographic experience, whereas the scientists consider readability as an objectively measured thing consisting of a blend of speed of reading and comprehension.

Another point worth mentioning is that legibility and readability are not the same thing. Indeed, despite the fact that these two terms are different in meaning and application, they are still considered as being among the most confused terminologies within the web development realm. Simply put, legibility is what gives you a proper visual perception and scanning of any text, whereas readability means understanding the content and is more specifically related to typography.

The following is a list of 12 practical typography guidelines which will help you improve the overall usability of your website:

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