Typography, or the way text looks on a website, is a crucial component of website design. Far too many designers ignore the typography, creating text that is difficult to impossible for visitors to read. If you’re looking for easy and fast ways to improve the typography of your website, use the following tips.

Increase the Contrast of the Text

It’s all too common for light gray text to be used on a white background or for dark text to be used on a darker background. This makes it far more difficult to read, even if it looks great. Instead, increase the amount of contrast between the text and the background. This helps it pop out more, making it easier for anyone to read.

Correct the Spacing Between Words and Lines

Headlines should have tighter letter spacing and word spacing, though just by a small amount. This helps prevent the letters from being forced apart by the amount of whitespace around the heading. In text, words and letters can be spaced a little further apart, making it easier to read. Lines should be spaced appropriately, as well. Too close together makes the text unreadable and too far apart introduces too much whitespace.

Choose the Right Line Length

The length of a line can make it easier or harder to read the text. If it’s too long or too short, most people aren’t going to read it. Instead, keep the line length at about 60 to 65 characters. Make sure the line length is consistent throughout the text, with the exception being offset quotes that are indented from the text.

Keep Styles Genuine

Faking italics, bolded words, and more are going to end up disrupting the flow of the text and will cause issues with readability. Instead, keep styles used genuine and, if this is not possible, create emphasis in alternative ways instead of trying to fake them. Use color instead of italics or bolding, for instance, instead of switching the font or slanting the word to make it look italic.

Break Words Between Lines Properly

When a word does not fit within the line length chosen, make sure it is split properly. Don’t just skip and put the word down on the next line, as this leaves whitespace in the middle of the text, which can be distracting and make it more difficult to read. Instead, use a hyphen to split the word in half, putting the first half at the end of the line and the second half at the beginning of the next one. This keeps the text line length uniform, making it look better and easier to read.

Use a Minimal Number of Fonts

Keep the number of fonts in the text to a minimum. It may look great to have one font for the heading and another one that’s easier to read for the main text, but there shouldn’t be a ton of different fonts used throughout the text. Each paragraph shouldn’t be a different font and words or phrases can be emphasized without having to change the font. Leave the text itself as a single font, as this makes it easier for visitors to read and gives a cleaner impression to viewers.

Opt for Standard Fonts

Standard fonts are a much better option, as they are more familiar to visitors and easier to read. The font will likely be adjusted in size for the headings, text, subheadings, and more, so make sure the text is easy to read no matter what size it is. Also, remember that fonts are viewed smaller on smartphones and tablets versus computers, so opt for a font that is still easy to read when they are viewed on these devices. Fancy fonts may look amazing, but they’re going to be very difficult to read when they’re small.

Avoid All Caps

Using all caps is not a way of getting someone’s attention. It’s akin to shouting through the computer. Avoid using all caps, even to emphasize a point. It’s far better to emphasize by using italics or through bolding specific words rather than to use all caps and make it seem like the writer is shouting at the readers.

While the content of the text on your website is crucial, the content doesn’t matter at all if it’s unreadable. It won’t matter how long you spent crafting the perfect content if visitors find it’s difficult to read and leave the website before they get through the first paragraph. Make sure your visitors can read the content you create and get the information you want them to have. Keep it simple, as this is the best way to improve readability and make sure viewers stay long enough to read the content. Use these tips today to improve the typography on your website quickly and easily.

Source by Guillaume Dornier