Responsive Web Design & Typography

How do we ensure our text stays readable within the flexible nature of responsive web design. Presentation given at the Fronteers meeting at Inventis, April 10, 2012

Transcript

1. Responsive Web Design and Typography Fronteers meeting @ Inventis, 10 april 2012
2. 2011. This is how it all started...
3. www.alistapart.com/articles/responsive-web-design/
4. Responsive web design + fluid grids + media queries + flexible images I won’t be talking about flexible media today.
5. Back to 1994. This early website was completely fluid ( we might even say responsive? ).
6. This is what a 640px wide window looks like today (on a 13” MacBook Air)
8. “The web’s content must be build to travel across vast networks to unknown devices and browsers.” - Jeffrey Veen, Hotwired Style, 1997
9. 2000 www.alistapart.com/articles/dao/
10. “Make pages which are adaptable. Make pages which are accessible, regardless of the browser, platform or screen that your reader chooses or must use to access your pages.” - John Allsopp, A List Apart, 2000
11. 2006 clagnut.com/blog/1663/
12. “There’s an different approach to web page layout which is gradually getting some traction. The idea is that the layout is changed to best accommodate the window size.” - Richard Rutter, own blog, 2006
13. Example: when the screen was wide enough, a third column was shown www.jrvelasco.com
14. This was done with javascript, measuring the viewport width.
15. Also in 2006. A smart man wrote a smart book.
16. “... increasing a page’s flexibility and taking necessary steps to ensure that it’s readable in as many circumstances as possible...” - Dan Cederholm, Bulletproof Web Design, 2006 This time focusing on readability instead of layout.
17. www.simplebits.com/publications/bulletproof
18. This is the book’s example site.
19. Bulletproof test: increase the font size by a few notches
20. The latest release of the book incorporates responsive web design principles.
23. So what happened between 2006 and 2010?
25. I truely believe that we would not be were we are today if it weren’t for the iPhone.
26. How do we keep our texts readable in such a flexible environment?
27. Responsive Web Design and Typography
28. Typography readability + character Character: does it represent the client or message?
29. A great example of readability.
30. If people need this to be able to read your website...
31. ...you did something wrong. (example: 11px grey Arial body text)
32. How do we know it’s readable?
33. “Read!” - me Read your text. Read it a lot. Is it easy to read?
34. Typography number of fonts Hint: don’t use too many.
35. One font
36. aworkinglibrary.com
37. seedconference.com
38. Two fonts
39. lostworldsfairs.com/atlantis
40. Readable text font size measure leading Measure and leading [pronounced: ledding] come from the days of typesetting.
41. Readable text font size line length line spacing In more human language.
42. www.informationarchitects.jp/en/100e2r/
43. 1em ≠ 1em 1 em was originally the width of an uppercase letter M set in lead.
44. 16px ≠ 16px
45. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes 48px Georgia The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes 48px Times New Roman
46. M 288px Georgia 288px Times New Roman M
47. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes 48px Georgia The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes 48px Helvetica
48. M 288px Georgia 288px Helvetica M Today, in the digital world, it is harder to define what 1 em exactly is.
49. ... 16 18 21 24 36 48 The typographic scale The typographic scale is a standard also going back to the days of typesetting.
51. 16px 18px 21px 24px 36px 48px The typographic scale More suitable for titles on larger screens
52. 48 36 24
53. 16px 18px 21px 24px 36px 48px The typographic scale Looking better on smaller screens (tablets, iPad,...)
56. 16px 18px 21px 24px 36px 48px The typographic scale Even smaller for mobile and small screens.
59. Better font size Larger screens need a larger font size, smaller screens need a smaller font size.
60. body { font-size: 100%; } p { font-size: 1em; //16px } Great way of working. If you ever need to scale, you just need to change the root size.
61. body { font-size: 100%; } ul { font-size: 1em; //16px } footer ul { font-size: 0.75em; //12px } footer ul p { font-size: 1.33em; //? } But it can get complicated when nesting elements.
62. body { font-size: 100%; } ul { font-size: 1rem; //16px } footer ul { font-size: 0.75rem; //12px } footer ul p { font-size: 1rem; //16px } rem (root em) relates back to the root, not to the parent element.
63. caniuse.com
64. Readable text font size line length line spacing
65. “Anything from 45 to 75 characters is widely regarded as a satisfactory length of line for a single-column page...” - The Elements of Typographic Style Applied to the Web
66. A handy way of showing character 45 and 75 within a text. Hat tip to Trent Walton
67. Readable text font size line length: columns line spacing
69. @media only screen and (min-width: 35em) { #container { -webkit-column-count: 2; -webkit-column-gap: 20px; } } One way of dealing with long lines of text is to create columns.
71. The drawback is that people might need to scroll down the first column, up the second...
72. @media only screen and (min-width: 35em) and (min-height: 40em) { #container { -webkit-column-count: 2; -webkit-column-gap: 20px; } } That’s why you can combine columns with a minimum height.
74. Side note: hyphenation
75. blog.fontdeck.com/post/9037028497/hyphens
76. p { -webkit-hyphens:auto; }
78. <!DOCTYPE HTML> <html lang="en-US"> <head> Hyphenation uses the page’s language to look up the dictionary.
79. Readable text font size line length: max-width line spacing
80. Too long lines to read...
81. #container { max-width: 45em; margin: 0 auto; }
82. Aaah. Perfect.
83. Better line length Create columns when height allowed, use maximum width otherwise.
84. Readable text font size line length line spacing
86. p { line-height: 1.5; } Generally a good line height for larger screen sizes.
88. @media only screen and (max-width: 45em) { p { line-height: 1.45; } } Adjusted for smaller screens...
91. @media only screen and (max-width: 22em) { p { line-height: 1.4; } } ... and even more for mobile and very small screens.
94. “What we need is a fluid way to set line height. ... Molten leading would maintain a specific font- size while adjusting line-height based on width. ... What I’m talking about is augmenting CSS with range rules (effectively, min/max line-height) that don’t yet exist, but should for the sake of fluidity.” - Tim Brown, Molten Leading, 2012 It would be nice if we had a min-line-height, like we have a min-width.
95. A jQuery plugin until CSS catches up. github.com/jimjeffers/jQuery-minLineHeight
96. Better line spacing Wider paragraphs need more line height.
97. Headlines fittext
98. fittextjs.com
99. Fittext makes sure the title scales automatically when the screen is resized.
100. <script src="js/jquery.fittext.js"></script> <script> jQuery(document).ready(function($){ $(".fit").fitText(0.7); }); </script> You have to play around with the value. A bigger value makes the text smaller.
103. Details lettering kerning other
104. Details lettering kerning other
105. letteringjs.com
106. <script src="js/jquery.lettering-0.6.1.min.js"></script> <script> jQuery(document).ready(function($) { $("h2").lettering(); }); </script> .char1, .char4, .char19, .char26, .char30 { color: #FF0067; } You can use lettering to target and style individual letters...
107. <script src="js/jquery.lettering-0.6.1.min.js"></script> <script> jQuery(document).ready(function($) { $("h2").lettering(); }); </script> .char1, .char4, .char19, .char26, .char30 { color: #FF0067; } Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else.
108. <script src="js/jquery.lettering-0.6.1.min.js"></script> <script> jQuery(document).ready(function($) { $("h2").lettering("words"); }); </script> .word4, .word9 { color: #FF0067; } ... or words ...
109. <script src="js/jquery.lettering-0.6.1.min.js"></script> <script> jQuery(document).ready(function($) { $("h2").lettering("words"); }); </script> .word4, .word9 { color: #FF0067; } Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else.
110. <script src="js/jquery.lettering-0.6.1.min.js"></script> <script> jQuery(document).ready(function($) { $("h2").lettering("lines"); }); </script> .line2 { color: #FF0067; } ... or lines.
111. <script src="js/jquery.lettering-0.6.1.min.js"></script> <script> jQuery(document).ready(function($) { $("h2").lettering("lines"); }); </script> .line2 { color: #FF0067; } Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else.
112. trentwalton.com/css3/type
113. www.strangenative.com/foldup
114. Details lettering kerning other
115. aestheticallyloyal.com/public/optimize-legibility
116. h2 { text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; } You can use CSS for kerning...
120. could cause a performance hit! ... but be aware of the side effects. Use only on titles.
121. ... or you could use a jQuery plugin in the meanwhile. Still, only use on titles. typebutter.com
122. Details lettering kerning other Alias “everything else Trent Walton does is awesome”.
123. trentwalton.com/category/notes
124. The date format changes with the available space. Told you, it’s a detail!
126. Fittext used in combination with CSS3 goodness.
127. Selected text colour matches the article’s colours.
130. The future?
131. beta.typecastapp.com
132. Setting type in an infinite canvas...
133. with access to thousands of web fonts...
134. and CSS automagically created for you!
135. An example of a page made entirely in Typecast without...
136. ... and with a grid to show the vertical rhythm.
137. simpleasmilk.co.uk
138. Resources Interested and wanting to read more on web typography? Look no further!
139. webtypography.net/toc/
140. jasonsantamaria.com/articles/
141. trentwalton.com
142. nicewebtype.com
143. 8faces.com
144. Thank you t @dannycalders