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Text on the brain

August 29, 2007 |

I’ve been thinking a lot about Typography lately. Thanks to this article on Connor Wilson’s blog series, Better Your Blog in a Week. It is actually a quite addictive thing to work on. Adding new types of selectors to emphasize parts of the story, giving it more of a feel reminiscent of print magazines or even newspapers. Typography is an easily overlooked part of the blog template and it is an art form all its’ own. An art form that is, in some ways, dying. Looking at the justification and headings of some newer print papers is a good example of how much people forget about god typography.

You know when your reading magazines and they have an interesting quote lined up on the page so you read it before you get to that part?

It has actually become quite a rarity these days. But aren’t they great? I had always loved little things like that when I would read magazines and it made me realize that it was something I had wanted to experiment with in my own writing, but never really took the time to do once I got started. Strange how someone else can remind you of something that got you where you are in the first place. A second look at your blog’s typography is definitely worth the time it takes. I took a few cues from Connor’s typography and a applied them here. Not all of them, but a few.

Here a couple of tips that you can use to improve the way your site’s look by using simple font changes:
*A different font in headings and copy can work great.
*Some popular heading fonts are Georgia and Trebuchet MS. The can work in copy too (especially Georgia, very common copy font) but they have unique aspects that make them pop in a larger/heading situation.
*Besides aforementioned Georgia, some highly used copy fonts are Verdana, Arial and Lucida Grande.
*Choosing the right size for copy is important. Don’t go too big for the sake of a fad.

Connor Wilson

For my next tricks I plan to pretty up the response board and do a little ‘pushing’ at the end of each single story.

Tagged : Tricks Tips, blogging

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