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Will I be able to change the fonts and colours?
No. In the early days we provided our customers with the facility to change fonts and colours. It was fun to play with, but our customers found that it was much more difficult to focus on the content when they also had to worry about design.
Most of our customers are professionals. But they are not design professionals, and they are happy to leave the design to someone else. They appreciate that getting things to balance on a web page takes experience, skill and time.
Good design is the integration of the different elements that go to make up a web page in order to maximise the readability and usability of the website, while maintaining a pleasing appearance.
Good web design is like a dry stone wall, everything fits into place. If you tinker with one design element, something else falls out of place.
The styles for body text, headings, links, menus and bullets etc. are chosen by our designers, with your input if you wish.
You simply select which style to apply. If you feel that the design needs changing, we can do that with minimum fuss and cost. Our graphic designers are on hand to ensure that the result always looks right.
Consistent styling is one of the hallmarks of any good design, and we make it a no-brainer.
Recommended fonts for use as body text
The most important factors in the choice of a font for the body text of your website are:
- How readable is it on-screen, at the size you wish to use?
- Is it compatible with the majority of PCs, Macs and hand held devices? If you choose a font that is not available on the visitor's browser, the browser will default to its own choice of font. This means that you will not know how your website will look to these visitors.
The examples below show the 'core web fonts' that will appear the same on the majority of platforms, so they meet the second criteria.
The fonts are shown at different sizes as not all fonts are readable at smaller sizes (for reference, a pixel is the smallest dot your computer's screen can display).
This is Verdana (12 pixels). Verdana is the font we recommend for body text, primarily because it was designed specifically for maximum on-screen readability. If you have lots of text on your website, and you want to cause your visitors minimum eye strain, use Verdana. Your visitors will not complain that it looks 'boring', but will thank you by reading more of your valuable content.
This is Verdana (11 pixels) bold. This is Verdana (11 pixels).
This is Verdana (10 pixels) bold. This is Verdana (10 pixels).
This is Verdana (9 pixels) bold. This is Verdana (9 pixels).
This is Arial (12 pixels). Arial is our second choice for body copy, but as you can see, it is not quite as readable as Verdana. Arial is more condensed, so the same text at the same size will take less space in Arial than Verdana.
This is Arial (11 pixels) bold. This is Arial (11 pixels).
This is Arial (10 pixels) bold . This is Arial (10 pixels).
This is Arial (9 pixels) bold. This is Arial (9 pixels).
This is Trebuchet MS (12 pixels). Again, quite readable on-screen, but why not make life easier for visitors by using Verdana?
This is Trebuchet MS (11 pixels) bold. This is Trebuchet MS (11 pixels).
This is Trebuchet MS (10 pixels) bold. This is Trebuchet MS (10 pixels).
This is Trebuchet MS (9 pixels) bold. This is Trebuchet MS (9 pixels).
This is Courier New (12 pixels). Courier gives a 'typewriter' look and can be effective in some circumstances.
This is Courier New (11 pixels) bold. This is Courier New (11 pixels).
This is Courier New (10 pixels) bold. This is Courier New (10 pixels).
This is Courier New (9 pixels). This is Courier New (9 pixels).
This is Comic Sans MS (13 pixels). Comic is widely derided by designers and should not be used for business to business websites. However, it can be effective for 'fun' websites or those wishing to convey a more 'home spun' look.
This is Comic Sans MS (12 pixels) bold. This is Comic Sans MS (12 pixels).
This is Comic Sans MS (11 pixels) bold. This is Comic Sans MS (11 pixels).
This is Comic Sans MS (10 pixels) bold. This is Comic Sans MS (10 pixels).
This is Comic Sans MS (9 pixels) bold. This is Comic Sans MS (9 pixels).
This is Times New Roman (14 pixels). Times is a 'serif font', the curly bits are the serifs. The serifs aid readability on the printed page, which is why it is used in most newspapers, but the limitations imposed by the number of dots used on a computer screen compared to printed material make this a poor choice for body copy.
This is Times New Roman (13 pixels) bold. This is Times New Roman (13 pixels).
This is Times New Roman (12 pixels) bold. This is Times New Roman (12 pixels).
This is Times New Roman (11 pixels) bold. This is Times New Roman (11 pixels).
This is Times New Roman (10 pixels) bold. This is Times New Roman (10 pixels).
This is Georgia (13 pixels). Like Times, Georgia is a serif font. Not recommended for body copy, but if you are keen on having a serif font Georgia is probably a better choice than Times.
This is Georgia (12 pixels) bold. This is Georgia (12 pixels).
This is Georgia (11 pixels) bold. This is Georgia (11 pixels).
This is Georgia (10 pixels) bold. This is Georgia (10 pixels).
This is Georgia (9 pixels) bold. This is Georgia (9 pixels).
Fonts for headers
Because headers are typically shown at larger sizes than body text, you can afford to be a little more adventurous. Of course you still need to use a font that will be compatible with most browsers.
Good designers recommend that no more than two fonts should be used, so it is OK to use a different font for the header and body text. You will often see this approach used in newspapers.
The following examples show 'core web fonts' at 22 pixels.
This is Verdana
This is Arial
This is Trebuchet MS
This is Courier New
This is Comic Sans MS
This is Times New Roman
This is Georgia
This is Arial Black
This is Impact
Graphical headers
Any font can be employed on a website if it is rendered as a graphic image. While this approach can look good, it has two major drawbacks:
- Search engines will not be able to read the text.
- You will need to come back to us each time you need a new header, or design the header yourself using Photoshop or similar software.
Example:
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An example of a graphical header - looks good, but there are issues!
