Use of serif fonts for web body copy?
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- jagara
Would you use serif fonts for web body copy, on a site where readability is important?
There has been a lot of debate on this. Personally, i find, say, Georgia, as legible to read as, say, Arial. But it goes against what i learned at school.
Thoughts? :)
- fadein110
Perhaps look into non-standard web fonts on Typekit or something similar. You will find a serif that is more appropriate for screen use.
Georgia is legible but best at larger sizes and lets face it small type on websites seems to have died a death for now.
- jagara0
@fadein re: "small type on websites seems to have died a death for now"
Not if it's a text/information-heavy site? Which in this case, it is... :)
- Continuity0
'Not if it's a text/information-heavy site? Which in this case, it is... :)'
I wouldn't go any smaller than 11px. Anything smaller than that is simply illegible, if using serif fonts.
- uan0
I know a big newspaper site that uses Georgia for web body text.
it's from Switzerland so it should give you a good argument to say you can do this.
http://www.nzz.ch/- One of the bigges Danish newspapers do this too: http://politiken.dkjagara
- < thats not Georgia lolfadein11
- No, but a serif font ;)jagara
- uan0
also check http://fontsinuse.com/typefaces/… for other examples...I guess the key is, how do you set it (linespacing, kerning) and with which other fonts you combine it to achieve the look/design you want.
- bainbridge0
Times?
- monospaced0
These guys do it, but I guess it's not a site where readability is important. :)
Anyway, what you learned in school made sense, we learned it too, because displays were CRT with big ass pixels. These flat displays are easier on the eyes with nearing-retina density, which makes serif type closer to practical.
- Continuity0
'These flat displays are easier on the eyes with nearing-retina density, which makes serif type closer to practical.'
Very true. Still, though, even with that, if your thins are too thin on a serif font, it's going to be pretty rough reading that on screen.
- jagara0
Just found this (just fun, nothing groundbreaking)
