Responsive Typography

Your content is the most important feature of your website, so it's important to make sure that the text looks good and is easy to read no matter what device type or screen size it's being viewed on. One size does not fit all when it comes to typography, but you can use media queries to adjust type qualities such as size, line height, column width, margins, hyphenation, and even typeface depending on the viewport size. Learn how you can use CSS to apply design rules that will make your typography look better and perform better across devices. You'll also find out how typography affects the loading time of your website, and what you can do to improve performance.

Presented in 2015 at ConFoo. Presented in 2014 at WebVisions Chicago, Blend Conference, Frontend Conference Zurich, Refresh Ottawa, Mobile+Web Dev Conference, STC Summit, Bmoresponsive, ConvergeSE, and Girl Geeks Montreal.

Transcript

1. Responsive Typography https://flic.kr/p/2mjtwC Clarissa Peterson @clarissa
2. Communication https://flic.kr/p/6xyFnt
3. Default Font Size https://flic.kr/p/4r1D8w
4. body { font-size: 100%; }
5. https://flic.kr/p/8iNCNU
6. Scale https://flic.kr/p/dhufQk
7. http://skinnyties.com/
8. http://skinnyties.com/
9. http://www.linksture.com/
10. http://www.linksture.com/
11. http://www.brandaiddesignco.com
12. http://www.brandaiddesignco.com
13. http://www.tilde.io/
14. http://www.tilde.io/
15. http://www.oliverharvey.co.uk/
16. http://www.oliverharvey.co.uk/
17. https://flic.kr/p/eYEFGY Ems
19. 1em = default
20. 2em = twice as big 1em = default
21. 2em = twice as big 1em = default .5em = half as big
22. h1 { font-size: 3em; } h2 { font-size: 2em; } h3 { font-size: 1.5em; } p { font-size: 1em; }
23. h1 { font-size: 3em; } h2 { font-size: 2em; } h3 { font-size: 1.5em; }
24. h1 { font-size: 3em; } h2 { font-size: 2em; } h3 { font-size: 1.5em; }
25. <p>This is 1 em.</p> <div>This is 2 ems <span>(and 1.5 ems) </span>.</div>
26. <p>This is 1 em.</p> <div>This is 2 ems <span>(and 1.5 ems) </span>.</div> p { font-size: 1em; } div { font-size: 2em; } span { font-size: 1.5em; }
27. <p>This is 1 em.</p> <div>This is 2 ems <span>(and 1.5 ems) </span>.</div> p { font-size: 1em; } div { font-size: 2em; } span { font-size: 1.5em; }
28. Thoughtful CSS https://flic.kr/p/bUxzCm
30. div { font-size: 1.1em; }
31. div { font-size: 1.2em; }
32. https://flic.kr/p/5a4L3p Rems
33. html { font-size: 100%; }
34. Pixel Fallback https://flic.kr/p/GedyD
35. h1 { font-size: 32px; font-size: 2rem; }
36. Line Height (Leading) https://flic.kr/p/4EDFYF
37. p { line-height: 1; } p { line-height: 2; }
40. p { line-height: 1; }
41. p { line-height: 2; }
42. p { line-height: 1.4; }
43. p { line-height: 1.3 }
44. p { line-height: 1.3 } @media only screen and (min-width: 30em) { p { line-height: 1.4 } }
45. p { line-height: 1.3 } @media only screen and (min-width: 30em) { p { line-height: 1.4 } } @media only screen and (min-width: 60em) { p { line-height: 1.5 } }
46. Vertical Margins https://flic.kr/p/4qc5EB
47. p { line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1.5em; }
49. Line Length (Measure) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Metal_movable_type.jpg
52. 45-75 Characters
53. 65 58 65 73 68 67 66 74 72 69 69
55. .testing { color: #f00; }
56. .testing { color: #f00; } <p>These stories are true. Although I have left <span class=”testing”>the strict line of historical</span> truth in many places, the animals in this book were all real characters.</p>
57. .testing { color: #f00; } <p>These stories are true. Although I have left <span class=”testing”>the strict line of historical</span> truth in many places, the animals in this book were all real characters.</p>
58. http://codepen.io/chriscoyier/pen/atebf
59. http://trentwalton.com
60. http://trentwalton.com
61. http://trentwalton.com
62. http://trentwalton.com
63. http://trentwalton.com
64. article p { line-height: 1.3; margin: 1.3em 0; } article { width: 94%; margin: auto; }
66. max-width https://flic.kr/p/7nCGk3
68. article { max-width: 28em; }
69. article { max-width: 28em; }
71. @media only screen and (min-width:48em) { article { font-size: 1.1em; } article p { line-height: 1.4; margin: 1.4em auto; } }
72. http://www.mqtest.io
74. @media only screen and (min-width:60em) { article { font-size: 1.2em; } article p { line-height: 1.5; margin: 1.5em auto; } }
77. Media Queries https://flic.kr/p/ajTNcB
78. https://flic.kr/p/8U1KwJ
79. Alignment & Hyphenation https://flic.kr/p/8veLPW
81. .hyphenate { -webkit-hyphens: auto; -moz-hyphens: auto; hyphens: auto; }
82. @media only screen and (max-width: 40em) { .hyphenate { -webkit-hyphens: auto; -moz-hyphens: auto; hyphens: auto; } }
83. Easy to read https://flic.kr/p/8iCtLv
84. article p:first-of-type { font-size: 1.2em; }
85. Typeface https://flic.kr/p/5q1Qj1
88. #intro { font-size: 1em; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; }
89. #intro { font-size: 1em; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; } @media only screen and (min-width:30em) { #intro { font-size: 1.2em; font-family: Populaire, sans-serif; text-transform: uppercase; } }
90. Performance
91. Web Fonts https://flic.kr/p/51wXrK
92. @font-face { font-family: ExampleFont; src: url('ExampleFont.eot'); src: local('Example Font'), url('ExampleFont.eot?#iefix') format('embedded-opentype'), url('ExampleFont.woff') format('woff'), url('ExampleFont.ttf') format('truetype'), url('ExampleFont.svg') format('svg'); font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; }
93. @font-face { font-family: ExampleFont; src: url('ExampleFont.eot'); src: local('Example Font'), url('ExampleFont.eot?#iefix') format('embedded-opentype'), url('ExampleFont.woff') format('woff'), url('ExampleFont.ttf') format('truetype'), url('ExampleFont.svg') format('svg'); font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; }
94. @font-face { font-family: ExampleFont; src: url('ExampleFont.eot'); src: local('Example Font'), url('ExampleFont.eot?#iefix') format('embedded-opentype'), url('ExampleFont.woff') format('woff'), url('ExampleFont.ttf') format('truetype'), url('ExampleFont.svg') format('svg'); font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; }
95. Use fewer fonts
96. @font-face { font-family: ExampleFont; src: url('ExampleFont.eot'); }
97. @font-face { font-family: ExampleFont; src: url('ExampleFont.eot'); } p { font-family: Arial, sans-serif; }
98. @font-face { font-family: ExampleFont; src: url('ExampleFont.eot'); } p { font-family: Arial, sans-serif; } @media only screen and (min-width: 30em) { p { font-family: ExampleFont, Arial, sans-serif; } }
99. System Fonts https://flic.kr/p/eiyWiy
100. http://www.jordanm.co.uk/tinytype
101. http://www.jordanm.co.uk/tinytype h1 { font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; }
102. <link href="http://fonts.googleapis.com/ css?family=Josefin+Slab &text=TitleofWebsite" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css">
103. Communication https://flic.kr/p/6xyFnt
104. https://flic.kr/p/cdVB9h Clarissa Peterson Peterson/Kandy clarissapeterson.com @clarissa