More Web typography

Using contrast between different styles of type on a Web page and between other elements such as headlines and the surrounding white space, will aid legibility. Also, establishing organized patterns will make the page more visually appealing and will keep the reader interested in looking at the page. “The regular, repeating patterns established through carefully organized pages of text and graphics help the reader to establish the location and organization of your information and increase legibility” (Lynch and Horton).



Margins and white space exist to help define the main reading area and the surrounding environment. They also provide visual relief when looking at a Web page. It is sometimes difficult to read Web pages not only because of the low resolution but also because the line length is often too long. A long line of text may make readers strain their eyes or lose their place when going to the next line. To account for this problem a Web designer can use invisible tables (border = “0”) to limit the line length to about 50 to 70 characters.

In terms of line spacing, to account for the longer lines of text and poor resolution, it is a good idea to add extra leading in between lines. For text that is 12-point font, implement leading of 14 or 16 points. For paragraph breaks, more common than indenting is leaving an empty line of space between paragraphs. This helps scanning a block of text and adds a visual rest to the reading. If a designer is using CSS, he can set the blank space using the “text indent” property of paragraphs.

Image source: Lynch and Horton. Web Style Guide: Typography. 5 Mar 2004. 16 Feb 2007.