I’ve started work on a new website and went searching for articles about choosing fonts, both for conveying a feel and readability. I’m stunned at the number of sites offering advice on usability and readability that are themselves very difficult to read. Offenses include:
- using tiny sans-serif fonts for body text
- inadequate line spacing (12 point arial on 11 point leading, anyone?)
- insufficient contrast between text and background, especially when it’s light text on a dark background
- newspaper style 2 column layout with different line spacing, forcing the reader to jump up and down
But maybe that’s why Opera has zoom and user mode.
