You Can Actually Read It

Readability is an issue to which far too few web designers pay attention. It is especially important for dive store websites, in so far as Baby Boomers (now mostly in the 50s and 60s, and facing diminished vision) continue to be an important segment of our overall market.

Remember that, at best, words on a computer screen are 25 percent harder to read than words in print. Anything you can do to improve readability will increase the likelihood visitors remain on your website long enough to make a buying decision.

Things you can do to enhance readability include:

• Ensure good contrast between the color of your text and its background. Nothing beats pure black text on a white background. “Avoid” (translation: never use) busy backgrounds, such as the all-too-popular water-textured blue.

• Make type large enough for aging eyes to read. Make sure the size of your body copy (the type of text you are reading now) is specified in pixels, not points, and is at least twelve pixels in size (what you are reading right now is 14 pixels; the sample site’s body copy is 13 pixels).

• Avoid lines of type that are more than 60 characters wide. Lines of type that run nearly the full width of the screen are difficult to follow.

What is the best typeface (font) to specify for your body copy? That’s easy. In the mid-1990s, Microsoft paid type designer Matthew Carter $350,000 to design “the most readable screen font ever.” They got their money’s worth.

The typeface Carter designed was Verdana — the same typeface you are reading right now. As far as readability goes, nothing else even comes close.

A lot of new web designers will mistakenly use Arial as the default typeface for body copy. At some level, they realize that a sans-serif typeface (in which the characters lack the little “hats and feet”) is more readable than a serif typeface like Times Roman (which is more readable on paper).

What they don’t realize is that Arial was optimized for laser printer output. On screen, Verdana wins hands down. Make sure Verdana is the default typeface for your store’s website.

Your Training Page Should Inform, Not Confuse »

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