Increasing Your Website’s Usability
by Jeff Frazier
(Michigan)
The one thing that is often overlooked and can be addressed on day one is a site’s font. Not only can fonts be aesthetically pleasing but they also help determine how fast the average user can read/absorb content.
When you stop to think about it, fonts are used on just about every page of most sites. It is used in your menu, your buttons, navigation bars and links. In many cases it covers the majority of a site’s content.
A few of the more commonly found fonts include… Times New Roman, Arial, and Sans Serif. The serif fonts are more comfortable, especially when reading from paper.
So how should we use fonts to influence the overall usability and legibility of a web site? The following are just a few suggestions.
First let’s talk about font style - Font style relates to the usage of boldface, italics or underlining. The use of boldface anywhere on your site should be strategic. When used too often, it tends to becomes more of a distraction from the content than anything.
Italics - Italics should also be used in a very limited fashion. Italics can be at times hard to read on a computer screen. Use sparingly, just enough to provide splashes of emphasis.
Underlining - Although the underlining of text does not tend to present a challenge in terms of the reading of your content on screen, people do tend to associate it with links. Again, used sparingly it should not be a distraction.
Next, I think I have mentioned it before but I will say it again, colors should be chosen very, very carefully. Obviously you look for the colors that create the best “curb appeal”. However, you also want colors that can be used to maximize content legibility. Think of your text in contrast to your site’s background. For dark backgrounds, consider using colors such white, a pale green or pale orange in terms of font.
For light backgrounds, consider using a black, dark blue or a dark green font. The number of colors per page should be restricted to 2 whenever possible, not including links.
Image Fonts - Avoid using font like images. Images take time to load and the quality is not always as good as the text produced by browsers. In addition, images cannot be interpreted by voice enables browsers.
The Best Fonts - Sans serif fonts such as Arial and Verdana should be used for top website designs.
No matter which font is chosen, it should be used throughout. Headlines can be sized and or bolded to add the proper emphasis in relation to a particular topic or section of your site.
Remember, the design of your website should focus on its users. It should be designed to suit everyone who will be visiting it. Never focus solely on your preferences for your website’s appeal should be broad.
