often used as a synonym for typeface which is a set of one or more fonts, in one or more sizes, designed with stylistic unity, each comprising a coordinated set of glyphs
29
votes
8answers
2k views
How do I explain correct usage of the MS Comic Sans font to a client?
I have a client who wants to use comic sans ms for lots of things on a website I'm doing for him. How can I explain that comic sans ms is so bad? He's fairly easily persuaded, I think I just need the ...
22
votes
6answers
26k views
What is the best font for extremely limited space, i.e. will fit the most READABLE text in the smallest space?
I often have very limited space when creating reports and dashboards for users. I usually use Arial, or Arial Narrow, but UI isn't my area of expertise, so I want to know, is there an optimal font for ...
14
votes
4answers
378 views
When displaying statistics to a user, is it better to bold the data or the label?
The following picture shows some statistics. Here they bold the data, not the label.
Which is better? Does it depend on the information being shown?
What if you have a header on a report with some ...
11
votes
3answers
2k views
Why not use san-serif fonts on print design?
It's better to use san-serif than serif fonts on web, as their simpler letter form remain readable at low resolution. Serif fonts need more pixels to display their extra details.
I was wondering why I ...
11
votes
2answers
180 views
Slanted cursor+background for italic text?
In most applications that I'm familiar with, a text cursor in insertion mode is universally represented as a vertical blinking bar:
As you can see, for some italic letters this creates visual ...
10
votes
3answers
19k views
Font Size For Mobile Sites?
I am designing a mobile site, and I'm wondering what I should set the font size as. Any suggestions?
9
votes
8answers
1k views
What fonts are good and which ones should we avoid for our application's UI?
What do you advise when it comes to selecting fonts for your User Interface?
9
votes
4answers
784 views
Font sizes for WCAG2.0 AAA
Anyone know what the WCAG2.0 definition of 'Normal' and 'Large' fonts are, as they relate to the AA and AAA levels?
I've googled and read the WCAG site and docs but unless I'm being really stupid ...
9
votes
4answers
3k views
Table usability/Readable font for a data table
What's the best font for a data table? Monospace is good but takes up more room, so you can't have as much whitespace between the items. Similarly, what are some good usability principles for data ...
9
votes
3answers
2k views
Good fonts that read vertically
I'm looking for some fonts that read well vertically. By vertically I mean text that runs at a right angle or perpendicular to the normal left to right. Like the words highlighted in yellow in this ...
8
votes
9answers
2k views
Should headings always use the same font as the body?
I'm working on some of the layout for a User Handbook and right now my main concern is fonts. I'm trying to decide whether to use the same font for the body text and the headings.
If I use different ...
8
votes
6answers
293 views
How can I make these links more obvious to click on?
I'm working on a website redesign for a dental laboratory.
While testing the home page with a user, they never clicked on the links in the subnavigation. They clicked on the larger buttons in the ...
8
votes
4answers
481 views
How do I improve the readability of body text?
I always find it hard to judge the readability of my site and there is so much conflicting information out there. So I thought I would ask for some options here. Could you please take a quick look at ...
8
votes
4answers
966 views
Different Font Faces in same Web Application
The context here is a web application delivered through the browser.
My question is: is it ever okay to have different font faces or a single application? To me it looks obvious but not egregious.
8
votes
3answers
278 views
Load Fonts First or Last?
Fonts compete for available bandwidth and out of necessity have to be referenced as external files, rather than being inlined as can be done with essential CSS to avoid a FOUC (Flash of Unstyled ...
8
votes
1answer
187 views
Accessibility and the use of font characters for icons
It seems to be a trend for the moment to embed custom web dingbat fonts and use them as icons on web pages. But isn't it so that a screen reader will read those characters out load? So when it for ...
7
votes
6answers
383 views
Is using the alt-attribute for text-as-graphics ok?
There are several ways to present text on your web page in exactly the font your designer decided; as an image, a flash hack, some javascript hack, dynamic fonts. But to this day, the only thing that ...
5
votes
10answers
2k views
Number of Fonts per Design
I'm working on a website and wondering at what point I'm using too many fonts and need to cut back. Right now, I have a handwritten font (HF1) that is being used for the site name, a quite different ...
5
votes
1answer
90 views
Should both bold and italics be allowed in electronic flashcards?
When people create electronic flashcards, is there a valid need for them to have markdown for both bold and italics? This is a question that I have been debating with some colleagues for a while now ...
5
votes
5answers
1k views
Easiest to read fonts
Has there been studies to determine what fonts make it easiest to read? I'm interested in the font type, but also size and color. For example, is dark gray better than pitch black?
Also of interest ...
5
votes
5answers
623 views
Should font styles used on a website be the same as logo?
I have been given a professionally created Brand Standards Manual that defines two fonts in the brand. When I am designing the website, should I just use the fonts defined in this standard for my ...
5
votes
2answers
668 views
What are some good font guidelines for headers, paragraphs, etc. that just look really nice?
One thing I find somewhat difficult is getting the various fonts and sizes and weights to look "just right". What are some good guidelines to follow for font sizes, weights and styles when making web ...
4
votes
5answers
3k views
Why is 13px Arial font the web standard?
If you use any of Google's applications, from search to Gmail you will find the base font used for most things is 13px Arial.
font-family: arial, sans-serif;
font-size: 13px;
...
4
votes
3answers
435 views
Any usability studies of the readability of Open Sans?
I like the look of Open Sans, but I've heard anecdotes of people having trouble reading it. For example on the Wordpress post about it, most are praising it, but a few people are quite negative:
...
4
votes
5answers
817 views
Suggestion for Critical Application GUI Font
I create a critical software (which affect safety), on the GUI, I need a font that has clarity & clear typeface which is very readable, mostly that font will be displayed at height of ~18px, do ...
4
votes
1answer
162 views
Should Font Faces be the Same Across Different Devices?
My company has been working on a fluid grid design for our website so users can access information through their mobile phones and tablets. I was thinking of incorporating a font change on various ...
4
votes
3answers
1k views
“Best practice” font for information heavy web applications
We run a B2B, information dense web application (a helpdesk) and our base font is currently
13px Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif
We've been thinking about using a webfont to improve this. ...
4
votes
5answers
240 views
Allow users to change fonts for increased reability
Looking to see if anyone has found any recommendations/best practices on allowing users to toggle different font-types. Particularly the ability to toggle between standard font-sets and one designed ...
3
votes
4answers
2k views
Arial vs Verdana for ecommerce sites [closed]
Struggling to choose between Arial (11px) and Verdana (10px) as screen font for my ecommerce site.
Here are my thoughts:
Arial has that connection to Helvetica. It oozes authority. Most popular ...
3
votes
1answer
186 views
Which websites stock good quality free fonts? [closed]
I know www.fontsquirrel.com and www.fontfabric.com that stock free fonts, but are there any other sites out there that have good quality free fonts?
3
votes
1answer
492 views
Customizing iPhone app's navigation bar with custom typeface?
I'm currently designing my first iPhone application, and I've decided to go with a UI using the default UIKit controls, but customized with my own colors and textures.
One area where I'm having ...
2
votes
3answers
189 views
How annoying is it to see your native language rendered with no accents?
I'm localizing my iOS app. All of the screen text, though, is rendered in a handwriting font made by our designer... that contains no special characters. (Yeah, roll your eyes. Go for it.)
As I'm now ...
2
votes
3answers
895 views
Which free font should I use to write code in my text document?
I'm writing some articles, mainly in blogs or small, approximately 1 paper long, printed articles.
Now this text contains some code. Most often it is not a code block but just a method name, a ...
2
votes
5answers
174 views
Is there a unified font size metric across all applications?
This is not precisely UX related, but very important to user interface design in general. In summary, across applications (Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Flash) and platforms (Browsers, .NET, Mac, ...
2
votes
3answers
461 views
What are your thoughts on using italics for primary navigation in a page header? [closed]
I'm working on a redesign for a large blue chip's website and the company brand uses a san serif italic font for the headings in it's marketing collateral. The brand/creative team would like to use ...
2
votes
2answers
179 views
What font selection tools are available? [closed]
I am not a graphic designer, but I must find a font that has these considerations:
Readable onscreen at small (8-10px) sizes
Distinguishes readily between I, l, and 1 (Upper I, Lower L, and one)
A ...
2
votes
0answers
228 views
When using Verdana, is it common to use Tahoma for headlines? [closed]
So Verdana looks excellent at small sizes. For big sizes like headlines though, is it common to use Tahoma as a replacement, which I hear is a condensed version of Verdana?
1
vote
2answers
504 views
What font is used in this image? [closed]
Can someone tell what font was used to write "november"? I really like the look of it but cannot tell the font ...
1
vote
1answer
186 views
Which fonts are safe for use on the web today? [closed]
The fonts that were allowed for use on the web are limited. But over the last few years, the fonts that could be safely used on a web page for styling elements have increased. In this day, which fonts ...
1
vote
3answers
255 views
Criteria for choosing fonts for a tree in a utility that everyone likes and can read?
So I've got a utility that really only needs to be ran internally, but I want the guys who use it to not complain about it all the time.
I don't think that style particularly matters to them ...
1
vote
1answer
156 views
Web-safe fonts: do Apple devices ship with Arial?
Currently my font stack is "HelveticaNeue-Light","Helvetica Neue Light","Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,Arial,"Lucida Grande",sans-serif. The issue I'm having is that some of my images/buttons with text ...
0
votes
2answers
109 views
interface suggestions
I have a simple site I'm creating that basically just allows you to set your status as away or available. Super easy and very simple. However, I'm definitely not a UX person and I really struggle at ...
0
votes
2answers
53 views
Alternatives to underlining an email address to signify MS Outlook “Check Names” feature
MS Outlook has a feature called Check Names that converts an email address to a full name, underlines it, and makes it uneditable (aside from deleting the resolved name).
Some of my font enthusiasts ...
0
votes
2answers
1k views
What's a safe serif font for an eBook read on iPad?
I'm currently working on a document which I expect to be read as a PDF eBook on iPad. The primary font family is Times New Roman which is just fine until it's presented in either italics or bold at ...
0
votes
0answers
36 views
Where to find a font for my web app? [closed]
As I have an educational web application, I need a digital like font, what's the approach to use such a font on my web app? I checked fonts.com, they offer monthly subscription plans to use their ...
0
votes
1answer
279 views
What Font Is Used in The Header of the Letter? [closed]
http://clareblando.com/images/letter.jpg
What font is used for George Bush's name and if the font is different for the footer, what do you think it is?
-1
votes
1answer
288 views
Truly cross-browser/cross-platform font-rendering web embedded fonts? Does it all come to images? [closed]
I've spent eons diving into @font-face issues for RTL languages, font-rendering on different browsers, PDF support, and so on.
My objective is to have CSS-compatible Arabic (a RTL language) text on ...
-1
votes
1answer
98 views
Trying to create a decent semi-flat design. Failing [closed]
We hit a snag in our project: We've only got a few weeks till launch and the designer who was to make a skin for our product has not delivered the (very) goods. I took a stab at creating a skin for ...
-1
votes
1answer
402 views
How do I determine which font a website is using? [closed]
I'm often curious to know what font a website is using. Using the inspector in Chrome or Safari I can easily identify the font-family style being applied, but that gives a list of fonts with no ...
-1
votes
1answer
452 views
A proper cross-platform sans-serif font stack for 16px font-size? [closed]
Although I have a Windows system, I am not basically a Windows user, and do all my stuff on Linux.
Are Windows users really used to Arial? I mean, it's really thin and rough looking when compared to ...
