[no_toc]There is no doubt about it – typography and the font-faces we choose has a huge impact on multiple aspects of our website including readability, mood, perceived article length, user experience and much, much more. It is absolutely essential that designers know and understand the different principles of typography that create a pleasing design, in order to properly portray the vision and mood of the website they are designing.

Limit Font Faces.

One important principle of using typefaces for websites is to use some amount of consistency in your design. Quite obviously there are two ends of the spectrum to using multiple typefaces: you can use only one font on your website, or you can change fonts every other sentence.

Somewhere in the middle is the perfect balance between these two extremes. Your best option is to pick anywhere from 2-4 typefaces to use in your design and stick with them.

When you exceed 3 or 4 typefaces you begin to detract from the content and the reader becomes confused as to the purpose of the design and the information you are presenting.

Font Selection Gives your Site its Character.

The main purpose of your font selection or typeface is to convey the character or purpose of your website and content. This means you need to go back and review the core purpose of your company, article, content and/or product. Once you know the main point you would like to communicate to your readers you can then choose or design a typeface that reflects the purpose of your content.

Alignment is Important. Guide Your Readers Through the Article.

The way you align and arrange your text on your site can have a huge impact on how readable your content is, as well as on the mood the type conveys to your readers.

Traditionally, there are four types of font alignment. These are right, left, centered and justified. However, because of the power that CSS and Photoshop images offer to designers you can pretty much align your text however you feel like. However we all must remember that:

“With much POWER comes much RESPONSIBILITY.”

The alignment of your text needs to help direct your readers and users to the most important information and to help them see structure and flow in your website.

With the availability of news, articles, reviews and other media today, your visitors don’t have the time or patience to sludge through a 1500 plain-text article.

You as the designer must effectively utilize the power of alignment, font-sizing, colors and every other tool you have to guide your readers through your website.

Typography Accounts for Over 90% of the Design.

Let’s face the facts: Most people come to your website to read the content of what you are offering to them. Whether it is an article, a product review, or an explanation of the hottest new app, people visit your website to read text – not to see what colors or design elements you used!

That means that if you become a master of typography, you will have the key to automatically ensure your website is 90% successful. Learning the art of typography takes time and effect, but it is time well spent.