A Selection of Great Fonts for Your Website
Even though it can be easy to overlook in a world of
Flash technology and ever more complicated design
elements, the lowly font is one of the most important
design elements to any website. Choosing the right
font for your website can have a profound impact on
the success of your website, and it is important to
choose the best and most web friendly fonts to
enhance the usability and looks of your web based
business. Choosing the right font for your web site
copy is an important consideration, as the font will
affect the way visitors will perceive the page,
including the professionalism of the site, its
trustworthiness and of course its appearance. Some
types of fonts are much easier to read on the web than
others, and it is important to know which fonts are best for website use. In particular, it is important to choose fonts for your website based on the following criteria:
- The font should be easy to read on the computer screen.
- The font should fit well with the character of the website
- The font should be widely available on the most popular browsers & operating systems
The most popular and web friendly fonts include:
- Arial – The Arial font is widely available, and it may be the most common of all the san serif fonts. Arial is the default font used by the Windows operating system, and has been as far back as Windows 3.1. Arial does have a number of readability issues, however, especially in smaller sizes, where it may become too narrow, and the spacing between the characters can appear too small.
- Times New Roman – Times New Roman is also very widely available. It is the most common of all the serif fonts. Times New Roman is the default font for many browsers. It is highly readable at sizes of 12 pt & higher. Smaller sizes, however, should be afforded.
- Verdana – Verdana is also widely used sans serif font. It is one of the easiest of all fonts to read on the web. Verdana continues to be the preferred font for many websites, and it is typically considered to be among the clearest fonts, even in smaller font sizes.
- Georgia – The Georgia font was introduced when the need for an easier to read serif font became apparent, and it does have very good on screen readability.
