Web design and typography

Currently web designers can choose from thousands of fonts available and use them on
their websites using HTML and CSS. However if the font is not installed on the users
computer the font will render as a default font. There are fonts known as web safe fonts
that most web designers use in their web sites, these are fonts that most people have
installed on their computers. These fonts include sans-serif, serif, monospace, cursive and
fantasy fonts.
Also another big factor for web designers to think about is the color of the text. The easiest
text to read is black text on a white background because it provides the best contrast.
When using type on websites the designer has to be very careful to use the right font and
use them in a right way that does not confuse the viewer. The designer has to take into
consideration the readers field of view which relates to the viewing distance and type size.
The difficulty with web design is that each page will be viewed differently on different web
browsers. Opening a web page and then having to scroll vertically will make it very hard to
read the contents. Web pages should flow from the top to the bottom of the page.
Eye tracking studies show that when people enter a website they usually scan the main
sections of the page to see if its relevant to what they want. In less then three seconds
they make a decision about the page. If they decide to stay their eyes scan from left to
right horizontally.
The biggest mistake that can be made in web design is lack of consistency which is one of
the reasons CSS was developed. CSS knows as cascading style sheets adds the same
colors, fonts, sizes etc to each web page when selected.

Computer typefaces

Typefaces where first designed on a screen around the 1960s, By Dr. Ing. Rudolf Hell
produced a Digiset typesetting system. In the 1970s phototypesettings was replaced by
stored information which was set as a series of small dots.
DigiGrotesk was the first digital type font and was designed in 1968 by Hell Design Studio.
With the production of the first graphic user interface knows as GUI. In 1981 the first
consumer GUI were developed, later Macintosh followed and in
1983 at a cost of 9,950 dollars were very expensive to buy. This
development also helped create the concept of what you see is
what you get (WYSIWYG) printing. Which is the concept of
what you see on the screen is what printed. Which was
developed at the XEROC Park research center by John
Warnock and Chuck Geske who are the founders of Adobe.