The best font to use

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Richard Conyard

Free Member
Jul 2, 2005
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Maidstone
  • #2
    If you're not using images then you're font choices are rather limited.

    For text the normal is verdana, helvatica (sp) - this is slightly wider than an arial for example and has been specifically designed to be viewed on screen.

    In terms of sizing, use CSS and look between 0.75em and 0.9em for standard text. You might also want to look at zooming layouts.
     
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    DuaneJackson

    DuaneJackson

    Free Member
    Jul 14, 2005
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    Brighton / London
  • #6
    Im actually ashamed that I know the answer to this yet I still often use px for font sizes.

    The problem is with accesibility. If you define the size in pixels then tools and features for people that are visually impaired may not work on your site. Within Internet Explorer, on the View menu is an option for Text Size. If you have defined your font size in pixels then this will be ineffective - the text will always be the same size regardless of the users setting. Wheras if you use other measures then it will work.

    Atleast I think that's what Richard is saying. I'm sure he'll correct me if I am wrong!
     
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    Cornish Steve

    Cornish Steve

    Free Member
    Jul 4, 2005
    13,260
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    Atlanta, Georgia, USA (formerly Cornwall, UK)
  • #8
    Richard Conyard said:
    Regardless of size - drop the use of pixels :)
    Click to expand...

    This evening, I changed the font to Verdana and the font size to 10 point. I must admit that our website looks much better. Thank you for the advice!

    We used Mambo to create our site. As an administrator, I am able to just go in and change details of the text. Not being a technical person, how can I tell if we are using pixels or not?
     
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    K

    kyber

  • #9
    View the source of one of your updated html pages. It will be in explicit in the html/style.....

    Looking at your home page, it uses this style sheet:
    http://www.goldctr.com/templates/JavaBean/css/template_css.css

    You can open that in your browser and read it.

    Looks like most things are in px (pixels) but some in pt (point). Seems all over the place to be honest. Not an efficient style sheet.

    Stuart
    PS. For reference (edited from TopStyle help):
    Code: 
    Both relative and absolute units are supported in CSS1. Relative units are preferred since they will better adjust to different media. The following relative units are available:

em (ems, the height of the element's font) 
ex (x-height, the height of the letter "x") 
px (pixels, relative to the canvas resolution) 

Absolute units are highly dependent on the output medium, and so are less useful than relative units. The following absolute units are available:

in (inches; 1in=2.54cm) 
cm (centimeters; 1cm=10mm) 
mm (millimeters) 
pt (points; 1pt=1/72in) 
pc (picas; 1pc=12pt)
     
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    K

    kyber

  • #11
    No, it says use relative. Which you use is up to you. Generally, ems is prefered I believe where practical.

    The link I gave earlier to A List Apart has plenty of debate on this.

    However, here is a very good article on this very subject by the author of one of the best books on CSS that I know.

    Stuart
     
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    S

    sparklyscotty

  • #12
    Richard Conyard said:
    Nope,
    You got the point spot on :). As far as I am concerned the more designers learn about standards compliance and accessibility the better. Obviously there is a lot more to it than just stopping using px's, but it's worthwhile.
    Click to expand...

    I apologize to gold for hijacking this thread, but is there a good place to find comprehensive information on this?
    Thanks.
    -Angel-
     
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