Choosing a FONT

There are thousands of computer fonts out there, and one of the great delights of working with type on a computer is that it is so easy to vary the font within a document ... remember the days of the typewriter daisy wheel?

But sadly this wonderful variety doesn't extend to the Internet. When you type into a web page all the instructions about the font you have chosen go into the HTML. Here are the instructions for the font I am using at the moment -

But there are two parts to the successful creation of the page. The first is mine, and I have got the Comic Sans MS font loaded on my computer, and the web browser will show it just how I want it to. But the second part is the computer that is downloading and reading this page. And I cannot guarantee that every computer that reads my pages will have the same fonts loaded. And if the computer doesn't have the exact font available, then a replacement font has to be selected - and now my carefully created web page might look awful, or worse it might look scrambled and not make sense at all. So most designers select from a very small range of fonts for the actual text in web pages. Luckily for me Comic is a pretty safe font to choose - and this is why I have used it for the Scotia website.

I have included samples of the main choices below, so you can see how they look. I've chosen the same size (10 pt) for the body text.

Arial
Verdana
Comic Sans
Times New Roman
Courier New

ARIAL FONT

Even a quick look round the World Wide Web will show you that there are all kinds of websites out there. And there will be some that you like and some that you loathe. And there will also be many that make you very impatient, as you can't find your way round them, find them difficult to read, or even worse, they take forever to load!

We have a set of guidelines which we like to use when designing websites. They are not set in stone, but they might just help you when you start thinking about what you want YOUR website to look like.

keep it simple (and quick to load) text is quicker to load than pictures (graphics)
make it easy to read
choose fonts that will display on as many computers as possible
make the display simple and clean
keep flashy bits and animations to a minimum
make the navigation easy to follow and logical
make sure it will display well in a range of browsers (though well over 90% of desktops and laptops use the Microsoft Internet Explorer).
make sure you can add to the site easily - and in unexpected ways (it always happens! websites have a way of developing and growing in ways you never thought of!)

VERDANA FONT

keep it simple (and quick to load) text is quicker to load than pictures (graphics)
make it easy to read
choose fonts that will display on as many computers as possible
make the display simple and clean
keep flashy bits and animations to a minimum
make the navigation easy to follow and logical
make sure it will display well in a range of browsers (though well over 90% of desktops and laptops use the Microsoft Internet Explorer).
make sure you can add to the site easily - and in unexpected ways (it always happens! websites have a way of developing and growing in ways you never thought of!)

COMIC SANS

keep it simple (and quick to load) text is quicker to load than pictures (graphics)
make it easy to read
choose fonts that will display on as many computers as possible
make the display simple and clean
keep flashy bits and animations to a minimum
make the navigation easy to follow and logical
make sure it will display well in a range of browsers (though well over 90% of desktops and laptops use the Microsoft Internet Explorer).
make sure you can add to the site easily - and in unexpected ways (it always happens! websites have a way of developing and growing in ways you never thought of!)

TIMES NEW ROMAN

keep it simple (and quick to load) text is quicker to load than pictures (graphics)
make it easy to read
choose fonts that will display on as many computers as possible
make the display simple and clean
keep flashy bits and animations to a minimum
make the navigation easy to follow and logical
make sure it will display well in a range of browsers (though well over 90% of desktops and laptops use the Microsoft Internet Explorer).
make sure you can add to the site easily - and in unexpected ways (it always happens! websites have a way of developing and growing in ways you never thought of!)

COURIER NEW

keep it simple (and quick to load) text is quicker to load than pictures (graphics)
make it easy to read
choose fonts that will display on as many computers as possible
make the display simple and clean
keep flashy bits and animations to a minimum
make the navigation easy to follow and logical
make sure it will display well in a range of browsers (though well over 90% of desktops and laptops use the Microsoft Internet Explorer).
make sure you can add to the site easily - and in unexpected ways (it always happens! websites have a way of developing and growing in ways you never thought of!)

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