by Zakary Venturo

Created on: May 08, 2009

No one thinks about fonts. They are simply chosen because they look good and fit. Fonts are seasoning used for flavor. However, as more documents are geared towards the web, exchanged electronically, and the idea of a paperless office becomes a bigger reality, there is a need to know a bit more about fonts then just how they add style to what is written.

The first thing everyone should know is that choosing a font does not guarantee that the intended audience will ever see that font in a specific document. There are only a handful of fonts that exist on every computer by default. Web designers posting articles online know that most text has to fall inside a few font families to keep the look and feel intact. Fonts are located and in a specific folder on a computer. When the browser loads up a page, the font style is specified and the browser looks for a match inside the font folder, not on the web site generating a web page. This is just as true when someone sends a Microsoft Word document to somebody else. When the document is opened, Word looks for the font specified by the document the same way the browser does, in the font folder. Some base choices that you can depend on being everywhere include: Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif, Verdana, and Times New Roman.

If a document is written that needs a specific font that is unlikely to be in use with an audience, the best solution is to send a copy of the font along with the document. This can be particularly important when designing flyers and emailing them to a print shop. While a print shop will probably strive to have a giant repository of fonts available to serve their customers, there is no guarantee that it does and making it convenient can save a lot of time and even money.

Another consideration is using a font that is readable. A fancy cursive font might look pretty, but most people will find it distractive and hard to read for very long. Titles and headers are a fine place to add that special flair in a document, but the most important part of an article is the information and making it sure it can inform. On a paper document, font sizes between 10 and 14 points is the most comfortable when the information is contained in several pages. On the web, the base size is harder to determine because screen resolution and screen size can make a dramatic difference, but usually between 12 pixels and 20 pixels will feel most comfortable for a reader.

Ultimately, fonts are still the seasoning that flavors the document. Making sure what is written looks as intended only takes a moment and can save a lot of surprises in the future. Knowing that a larger audience might not be able to see a particular style element can turn surprise into proactive planning that avoids a headache in the future.

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