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Typography. Web Design Professor Frank. Characteristics of Type on the Web. Magazine/book typography – 1200 dpi Computer screens – 85 ppi (maximum). Anti-aliased type. On the Fly Construction.
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Typography Web Design Professor Frank
Characteristics of Type on the Web • Magazine/book typography – 1200 dpi • Computer screens – 85 ppi (maximum)
On the Fly Construction • Web page layouts and typography are suggestions of how your pages should be rendered—you never know exactly how they will look on the reader’s screen
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) • Provide control over the exact visual style of headers, paragraphs, lists, and other page elements
Advantages of CSS • Separation of content and design • Efficient control over large document sets • Greater typographic control with less code • More formatting options than plain html tags and extensions • Universal usability
How CSS Works • Site authors/users determine the size, style, and layout details for each standard html tag • Once text has been styled, you can change the look of each occurrence of an element by changing its style information
Consistency is Key! • Provides polish to a site • Gives visitors expectation about structure of text • Increases readers’ confidence in your words
Legibility • Good typography depends on the visual contrast between one font and another, as well as among text blocks, headlines, and the surrounding white space
Alignment and White Space • Delineate main text from other page elements • Add visual interest – contrasting positive and negative space
Alignment • Justified text • Centered and right-justified text • Left-justified text • Headlines
Line Length • Longer line lengths are harder to read • Fixed length vs flexible • Design standpoint vs users should be able to structure their own view
Type Color • Refers to various ways of manipulating fonts, line spacing, and paragraphs to optimize the overall look and legibility of type on the page
Leading • Vertical space in a text block • Too much leading makes it hard for the eye to locate the start of the next line • Print rule: 2 points above type size; web rule: be more generous
Indenting Paragraphs • Indenting vs line of white space • Use depends on type of document • Be consistent!
Typefaces • Legibility on-screen • Adapted traditional typeface • Designed for the screen • Typefaces for other media
Choosing Typefaces • Body text – use serif font like Times New Roman or Georgia • Headlines – use sans serif like Ariel or Verdana • Use compatible fonts from same family • Don’t use more than two typefaces on a page
Specifying Typefaces • If specified typeface isn’t available, browsers will display default • Specify multiple fonts for each style: p { font-family: "Times New Roman", Georgia, Times, serif }
Type Size • Set body text to the default text size defined in users’ browser • Set all text variants (such as headings, captions, and links) using relative units, such as ems or percentages p { font-size: 1em; text-indent: 2em; }
Type Sizes for Comfortable Reading • Readers prefer large type • Generous leading (line spacing) = legibility • Most users never change default setting in their browsers
Emphasis • Italics • Bold • Underlining • Color • Spacing
CAPITALS • Avoid ALL CAPS! • Users recognize shape of words
Semantic Emphasis • Abbreviation <abbr> • Acronym <acronym> • Address <address> • Block quotation <blockquote> • Citation <cite> • Computer code <code> • Defined term <dfn> • Emphasis <em> • Headings <h1>, <h2>, <h3>, <h4>, <h5>, <h6> • Lists <ol>, <ul>, <dl>, <menu>, <dir> • Strong emphasis <strong>
Display Typography With Graphics • Provide the equivalent text using the “alt” attribute of the <img> tag • Use Photoshop’s anti-aliasing type unless type is smaller than 10 points or 10 pixels
Signal to Noise Ratio • Good communication maximizes what’s important while minimizing the things that distract from the message
“Webjunk” • Avoid: • Desire for attention at any cost (ie Flash) • Overcrowding/restricted space • Lack of control over the elements of a page
“Cliff of Complexity” • Complexity in data displays is good – to a point – but push the degree of complexity too far and you go past a point of rapidly diminishing viewer interest: the “cliff of complexity”