Introduction

Type is an important design element & should be easy to read.  Here are a few things to keep in mind:

• After you select text, you can change the font face, size, and style in the property inspector.  In versions prior to 8, Dreamweaver inserted a font tag, which isn't the preferred way to format text these days.  8 uses CSS, which is the preferred way to change font properties.
• The end user has to have the font installed on his home computer for it to display properly.  Because of this, you should use common fonts.

Important Guidelines:

EMPHASIZE with CAPS, bold, and italics.

• Use caps, bold, or italics to emphasize a word or two -- never for a full page.

Use high contrast between background and text

• Dark text on light background or light text on a dark background.
• Make sure your background is simple if you use a background image.
• Dark text on a light background is easiest to read, so use this for large bodies of text.

Choose a few common, readable fonts for your font list

• Some fonts are designed to be easy to read on a computer screen. Verdana is a good choice for large bodies of text.
• Using more than 2 or 3 fonts on one page can look tacky and cluttered.
• If the user does not have the font, it will not show up, so use a list of common fonts.
• In general, when you want an attractive title, subtitle, or button, create an image. That way, you can use any font and you can even include logos, photos, or other graphics. Use a simple, sans-serif font for subheadings and buttons.

Make your page easy to scan.

According to Jakob Nielsen (Writing for the Web), Writing for the Web is very different from writing for print:

• 79% of users scan the page instead of reading word-for-word
• Reading from computer screens is 25% slower than from paper
• Web content should have 50% of the word count of its paper equivalent

Make good use of headings and formatting to make sure your page is easy to scan.

Design for multiple window sizes

• Font sizes look different on different platforms and monitor resolutions, so use the word wrap and tables to place text.
• DON'T place text by entering a bunch of spaces or tabs or your page layout will fall apart when the browser window is resized.