Font Guidelines

  1. Use an 11 to 14 point font regardless of your audience.
  2. Pay as much attention to font color as you pay to font size.
  3. Use scalable fonts.
  4. Pay attention to the spacing between letters and x-height when picking a font.
  5. Make sure the font you choose does not have an unusually small x-height.
  6. For larger fonts, choose anti-aliased text over dot matrix text.
  7. Make conscious decisions about whether to use serif or sans-serif font.
  8. For longer texts, use sans-serif fonts. For shorter texts, use serif or sans-serif fonts.
  9. Do not worry about whether a font was developed for print or the web when choosing a sans-serif font.
  10. When picking a serif font, consider that people show a slight preference for serif web fonts over serif print fonts.
  11. Widen line spacing on a page if you want to increase readability.
  12. Use shorter line lengths for denser text and longer line lengths for text that can be read quickly.
  13. Use font color to tie together elements on a page with the same purpose.
  14. Do not use uppercase for body text. Consider using uppercase for headings and text that needs to be seen from a long distance.
  15. Be wary of fixed-width fonts.