Ten Tips for Better Type

Let’s face it: most of us spend the vast majority of our days staring at some sort of illuminated screen. Work day? Eyes glued to laptop. Walking to lunch? Miraculously avoiding careening into oncoming traffic as I stare at my phone.

During my abundance of screen time, most of the content I consume is text-based. Some of it looks great! But some of it gives me a headache by the end of the day. Nobody likes headaches. In this talk, I’ll go over ten easy tips to make your typography headache-free.

Transcript

1. For Better Type 10 TIPS
2. Mel Choyce PRODUCT DESIGNER AT AUTOMATTIC @melchoyce melchoyce.design
3. Don’t make people squint at their screens Tip #1
4. Meet WordPress WordPress started in 2003 with a single bit of code to enhance the typography of everyday writing and with fewer users than you can count on your fingers and toes. Since then it has grown to be the largest self-hosted blogging tool in the world, used on millions of sites and seen by tens of millions of people every day. Everything you see here, from the documentation to the code itself, was created by and for the community. WordPress is an Open Source project, which means there are hundreds of people all over the world working on it. (More than most commercial platforms.) It also means you are free to use it for anything from your recipe site to a Fortune 500 web site without paying anyone a license fee and a number of other important freedoms. About WordPress.org On this site you can download and install a software script called WordPress. To do this you need a web host who meets the minimum requirements and a little time. WordPress is completely customizable and can be used for almost anything. There is also a service called WordPress.com which lets you get started with a new and free WordPress-based blog in seconds, but varies in several ways and is less flexible than the WordPress you download and install yourself. What You Can Use WordPress For WordPress started as just a blogging system, but has evolved to be used as full content management system and so much more through the thousands of plugins and widgets and themes, WordPress is limited only by your imagination. (And tech chops.)
5. 16-24 px body fonts
7. Always change the default line-height Tip #2
8. 1x is so, so sad.
10. 1.4-1.6x for body fonts
12. 1.2-1.4x for header fonts
14. body { font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.5; } h1, h2, h3 { line-height: 1.3; }
15. Constrain your 
 line-lengths Tip #3
18. 45-75 characters per line* * including spaces and punctuation
19. More sometimes is okay
20. Less sometimes is okay* * especially on smaller screens
21. Pick fonts with multiple styles Tip #4
24. Meet WordPress WordPress is open source software you can use to create a beautiful website, blog, or app.
25. Meet WordPress WordPress is open source software you can use to create a beautiful website, blog, or app.
26. Meet WordPress WordPress is open source software you can use to create a beautiful website, blog, or app. Meet WordPress WordPress is open source software you can use to create a beautiful website, blog, or app.
30. About WordPress WordPress started in 2003 with a single bit of code to enhance the typography of everyday writing and with fewer users than you can count on your fingers and toes. Since then it has grown to be the largest self-hosted blogging tool in the world, used on millions of sites and seen by tens of millions of people every day. About WordPress.org On this site you can download and install a software script called WordPress. To do this you need a web host who meets the minimum requirements and a little time. WordPress is completely customizable and can be used for almost anything. What You Can Use WordPress For WordPress started as just a blogging system, but has evolved to be used as full content management system and so much more through the thousands of plugins and widgets and themes, WordPress is limited only by your imagination. (And tech chops.)
31. Use font families Tip #5
34. Meet WordPress WordPress is open source software you can use to create a beautiful website, blog, or app.
35. Meet WordPress WordPress is open source software you can use to create a beautiful website, blog, or app.
36. Meet WordPress WordPress is open source software you can use to create a beautiful website, blog, or app.
37. Avoid decorative or fancy fonts Tip #6
38. About WordPress WordPress started in 2003 with a single bit of code to enhance the typography of everyday writing and with fewer users than you can count on your fingers and toes. Since then it has grown to be the largest self-hosted blogging tool in the world, used on millions of sites and seen by tens of millions of people every day. About WordPress.org On this site you can download and install a software script called WordPress. To do this you need a web host who meets the minimum requirements and a little time. WordPress is completely customizable and can be used for almost anything. What You Can Use WordPress For WordPress started as just a blogging system, but has evolved to be used as full content management system and so much more through the thousands of plugins and widgets and themes, WordPress is limited only by your imagination. (And tech chops.)
42. Steal font pairings Tip #7
47. Only center short text Tip #8
48. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Quisque quis feugiat ex. Aenean nec ipsum non lacus malesuada consectetur id eu dui. Praesent commodo nisi sed est semper fringilla euismod ac diam. Maecenas dui dui, lobortis ut blandit vel, tempus sed ante. Fusce sit amet auctor odio. Quisque dolor libero, vulputate vitae justo nec, molestie lacinia neque. Maecenas a vehicula sapien. Praesent odio nulla, laoreet a dapibus ut, blandit nec ipsum.
49. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Quisque quis feugiat ex. Aenean nec ipsum non lacus malesuada consectetur id eu dui. Praesent commodo nisi sed est semper fringilla euismod ac diam. Maecenas dui dui, lobortis ut blandit vel, tempus sed ante. Fusce sit amet auctor odio. Quisque dolor libero, vulputate vitae justo nec, molestie lacinia neque. Maecenas a vehicula sapien. Praesent odio nulla, laoreet a dapibus ut, blandit nec ipsum.
50. Meet WordPress WordPress is open source software you can use to create a beautiful website, blog, or app.
51. Don’t use black Tip #9
52. Kindred Spirits, by Asher Brown Durand
53. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/new-photos-vantablack-906158
55. Only underline links Tip #10
56. About WordPress WordPress started in 2003 with a single bit of code to enhance the typography of everyday writing and with fewer users than you can count on your fingers and toes. Since then it has grown to be the largest self-hosted blogging tool in the world, used on millions of sites and seen by tens of millions of people every day. About WordPress.org On this site you can download and install a software script called WordPress. To do this you need a web host who meets the minimum requirements and a little time. WordPress is completely customizable and can be used for almost anything. What You Can Use WordPress For WordPress started as just a blogging system, but has evolved to be used as full content management system and so much more through the thousands of plugins and widgets and themes, WordPress is limited only by your imagination. (And tech chops.)
57. Thanks! @melchoyce melchoyce.design