With the use and development of Cascading Style Sheets, web typography has a reached a new height. Web designers now have access to tools to steer this aspect of design to its true place in the field of website design. With some innovative tools, designers can use typography to significantly enhance website design. Here are some of the key elements that are part of web typography:
Typefaces
The first step to typographic design is selecting a typeface – an aspect that has the potential to influence a page’s overall design. To do this effectively, the web typographer identifies fonts that are available. He then selects a font that is best suited to the web design task at hand. Two key typeface groups that are employed on the web are serif and sans-serif. Used widely, serif typefaces have extra lines at the end of letter strokes. The benefit of using serifs is that they enable the letters to flow on the screen such that the eyes are lead through the text.
Web fonts
Of the various fonts that are used on websites, the three most commonly used are Verdana, Helvetica and Trebuchet MS. The key reason for using Verdana is that the large amount of whitespace provided between and within the characters makes them extremely legible on screen. Trebuchet MS is another type of font that is apt for use on websites. This is because it is one of the most distinctive web fonts. Its lines are solid and clear, and it is quite legible even when used as small fonts. Helvetica is widely used as a web font because it has a big x-height that allows it to be read easily on screen. Also, it is economical in terms of space usage and is fluid on the screen too.