Web Site Readable
7. Is Your Website READABLE?
People are basically after information, after all.
Font Size. Young graphic designers have a terrible habit of using a type face that is too small. This may work ok for most technical websites that are made for computer nerds, since the majority of them are young, but unless your target audience is all under age 35, use at least a 10 point font size in a readable font.
Font Face. Typically, you should not use fancy fonts for your website content. I’ve seen lots of ladies’ websites that use such fonts, and they do look pretty, but guess what: they are hard to read. Leave the art for artwork.
The best font faces or types to use for websites are: Verdana, Arial, and Tahoma. (Of course, this is only my expert and correct opinion). They are easy to read and most computers have them installed. About 95% of all windows users have these three fonts installed.
If you don’t use a common font, then the browser’s computer makes the decision, substituting usually either courier or times, neither of which are good for reading on the web.
Font Color. Does color matter? Yes! Using a very dark color on either a white background or a light background is best. Light colors or bright colors on dark backgrounds may appeal to some younger users, but it is hard on the eyes.
Highlight important words and phrases with augmented colors that work in your website’s theme.
Text Decoration. Using bold, italics, underlining or a combination of the same (along with hover colors for links) is all called text decoration. Don’t go crazy with them, but you definitely should be using them, because when they are used properly, they assist the readers in understanding your message.
They can’t hear your voice tones or inflections, but you can capture these in a way using text decorations well. It is best to use external CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) to control the display of text decoration. Styles can also be in the HTML on the page, but these styles (HTML CODES) can be a problem for good SEO on a webpage.
Spell Checks. Yes. Use a spell checker.
Large Documents? If you have large documents, provide a brief introduction of the subject, link it to a bit more on the topic, and then finally link to a PDF file if it is really large.
PDF stands for (Portable Document Format) and it will retain whatever formatting it is created in. Let them download and print those long documents, booklets and manuals. Then they can print them out for good, old fashioned reading on paper.
How READABLE is your Web site? Grade it!
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