{"id":537,"date":"2011-03-13T15:46:10","date_gmt":"2011-03-13T21:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.techory.com\/blog\/cure-for-the-common-font\/"},"modified":"2011-03-13T15:46:10","modified_gmt":"2011-03-13T21:46:10","slug":"cure-for-the-common-font","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/techory.com\/sxsw\/?p=537","title":{"rendered":"Cure for the Common Font"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Presenters
\n<\/strong>Frank Chimero<\/a>, Office of Frank Chimero
\nJason Santa Maria<\/a>, Creative Dir Mighty LLC
\nStephen Coles<\/a>, Type Dir Typographica\/Fonts In Use
\nTiffany Wardle<\/a>, Typegirl<\/p>\n

More Information: http:\/\/j.mp\/fontcure<\/a><\/p>\n

There are hundreds of thousands of fonts available and grows every year. It gets difficult to choose types so we many times just rely on the ones we always use.<\/p>\n

Typography Basics<\/strong><\/p>\n

Methods for Typography:
\nHow vs. Why, practical execution in addition to theory and rationale.<\/p>\n

Arranging the Furniture
\nDoes the furniture fit who it’s for? – don’t put chairy in a modern room
\nDoes the arrangement make sense? – don’t just throw a bunch of pillows in the room
\nIs there room to get around?<\/p>\n

Choose a good typeface:
\nGood meaning high-quality and proper. Proper for the format, for the content, for the reader. You can set the tone with the word “party” and let the font tell you want type of party it’s going to be. Typopedia<\/p>\n

Don’t use too many:
\nIt’s a juggling act. The fewer typefaces one uses the less likely they are to drop the balls. Use faces in the right order – certain typefaces work in body and certain ones work larger.<\/p>\n

Have a clear hierarchy:
\nMake more important things bigger, and less important things smaller. You’re already doing this in markup (H1, H2, H3, etc.).<\/p>\n

If in doubt, read it:
\nExcellent type comes form empathy for the reader. Huffington Post doesn’t pass the read test. It is very hard to read a full article.<\/p>\n

How to Evaluate the Quality of a Font<\/strong><\/p>\n

Are there too many choices? Not all fonts are created equal.<\/p>\n

Does the font have a minimum character set?
\nIs it all uppercase? Does it include all punctuation?<\/p>\n

Does the font have extended Latin or non-Latin?
\nWill you need to do anything internationally to support other languages? Find a family that includes all of it.<\/p>\n

Does the font have siblings and cousins?
\nMake sure you’ve got italics and bold in your font. Do you also need condensed or something else?<\/p>\n

Is the font well-spaced?
\nDon’t confuse tracking with kerning. Even well-spaced fonts need some kerning. Look for letters that depend on kerning.<\/p>\n

Does the font look good across browsers and platforms?
\nLook at as many applications of the font as possible. Make sure the fonts are well-hinted.<\/p>\n

What makes a good text face?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pretty much all the web is text. You want people to actually read your content, and connect with it.<\/p>\n

When we read:
\nTake a chunk of text and block out the bottom of it, it’s still legible. If you block the top, it becomes hard to read. Most of the font information is in the top. Find a text face that is easily discernable.<\/p>\n

Display Faces:<\/p>\n