One of the most important, yet grossly neglected area of Website Design process is in the selection of the font and font size . Few designers realize that the font and font size can have a great impact upon the visitor’s initial impression and can significantly effect the overall bounce rate of visitors coming to the website.
If the font and font size is to his/her liking, he is more apt to stay. If he/she finds difficulty in reading through the content due to the font size , the person is more likely to leave the site for good. If you had given ample thought to analyzing your target audience and deciding upon the right font and font size you may very well help improve the overall time a person will spend on your site.
New Generation Fonts
Choose fonts that are easy on the eye and clearly legible. Verdana and Arial are considered a good option and offer easy reading. These are common and installed in all computers presently. These fonts look equally pleasing when taking out print outs of any documents from your computer. Further to this point, text and the background color should contrast and this should offer easy reading. Black text and white background are considered the best selection by far.
Jakob Nielson on Font Size
Jakob Nielson, the web usability czar, speaking on font size had earlier remarked, ”Tiny text tyrannizes users by dramatically reducing task throughput”. He recommended that designers be careful in the choice of font size and avoid cramming pages with small font that users are unable to read . Most present day web browsers , however, offer the option of enlarging or reducing the font size with CTRL and + and CTRL-
This ls a useful tool and offers the users the freedom to select the font size of their choice. (the problem is not many people know about it!) Jakob Nielson had also cautioned web designers from disabling this facility and displaying a font that users may be reluctant to accept. In case the designer was particular that a default font size be included in the site he suggested that 10 point be used as default so that users need not take recourse to manual overrides. He had in addition said that font size should be related to the age of your target audience and if your site is particularly targeted at seniors a font size of 12 point may be better.
The importance of having a font that does not strain the eyes and is visually appealing is of utmost importance. Many visitors may not even take the trouble of enlarging the fonts if the font size is too small.
A well designed site with correct font size could go a long way in making a commercial success of your site by making a visitor stay longer on your site and aid conversions in the process. Isn’t that what its all about?
They say, the first impression is the best impression. Few realize that website fonts can tilt the scales either way. If the font is visually appealing visitors will stay on the site thus aiding conversion; if not, they will leave as quickly as they came in. It’s a small step in website design process but could turn out to be a giant leap in website conversions.
I wonder how many things like this can attribute to our site’s success. Thanks Cyriac for covering this topic in detail.
Not only can font size help but font colour is also a deciding factor. After all, a site is meant for user interaction-user friendliness, unfortunately many websites are lacking this feature.
Yes, these are the less looked at aspects of building a website. Thanks for providing a nice write up on this topic.
The type of the font & font color can convey messages more clearly, at the same time it makes our site pleasing to the users’ eyes. Designers have the challenge of making the content scannable, and for it they have to consider these minor factors, if neglected that can get your site into sticky situations.
Selecting the right font is not just about creativity but also to identify the key areas on the page (targets of the company) and get attention by methods like selecting the right fonts, colors etc.
It will have a negative impact if fonts are not selected properly. For example for an important section if small font is provided then it’s less attractive and conversion rate will be less. Providing big fonts in an area which is not required also makes the page longer.
It’s also recommended to make the fonts in text rather than images so that the page loads faster and it’s SEO friendly.
A useful post there Cyriac, I am a Verdana kind of designer! Yes Verdana is one of my favourite too, I guess the majority supports this recent font, may be because of its web 2.0 feel.
Great topic! I have always been very particular about fonts. I find it really distracting when a website has so many different fonts and sizes. There should be one consistent size, colour and style for titles and one for body text.
As design made its transition from print to web, typography was the aspect which got affected the most. I can recall the time when choosing a typeface and font size were the only consideration. But now times have changed and the adoption of CSS into mainstream Web design has provided the designer with a variety of tools for typographical experimentation.
Good article on fonts. There is a lot of psychology that needs to be applied in website design and no less in the matter of selecting fonts. The customer can really connect with sites that use easy-to-read fonts and attractive design elements. He is more likely to say yes to a site that won’t strain him much compared to one that tries to play games with him.
I am one of those who prefer to read smaller paragraphs, and usually I don’t really read them, I just fly over them with my eyes while trying to understand. Hence I don’t spend much time at sites with smaller monotonous fonts. These days there is so much information and so little time to read. And reading from the screen is a whole lot different than reading from a book, your eyes get tired faster!
Nice post! This is rather handy to know, this really makes me thinking…
We usually give emphasis to the design aspects than fonts. Next time I will create a site, I will be sure to check out these concerns. It would be beneficial if you touched the font details much more…
I think you are right. There are an array of fonts available today on most computers but many people aren’t experimenting with them.
I use Trebuchet a lot for headings, Verdana looks really clunky in big sizes.
An effective web design process has many aspects, though each one might seem trivial, like it may not make a difference, but in reality, every little detail can cause an impact on your overall web design, and in your conversions. And you’re right one often overlooked detail in effective web design is font. Aside from branding, loading time, and worthiness of the content, font plays a major role in deciding the success of your site.
Good and informative post. Fonts like trebuchet doesn’t work very well for body text though, verdana still rules there, and we cannot rule out consistency aspects in design whatever be the font.
I’d ask you to be more careful with your posts. The headline is clearly gamed for attracting clicks, but then you do not seriously address how conversion rates are affected by fonts, beyond a generic “well, they just are” statement.
It’s a great topic. I’d encourage you to write more meaningfully on it.