Presentation on Barcamp Berlin 2 on November 4th, 2007 by Gerrit van Aaken

1. Introducing Typography
(not only) for the Web.
Gerrit van Aaken, praegnanz.de
!
Barcamp Berlin, November 3rd/4th 2007
!
Some rights reserved:
!
CreativeCommons BY-NC

2. Basics
WTF is
Typography?

3. Typography is like onions …
Layer 1: Font design
!
Layer 2: Micro Typography
!
Layer 3: Macro Typography (Lay-Out)
!

4. Credo
Typography is
about readability,
not creativity.

5. Readability vs. Creativity
Display fonts are easy and fun, almost everone
!
can do it.
Good readable body copy is the interesting thing!
!
What can I do to improve the readability of my
!
web site?

6. Back to readability
An old/new
approach to
web readability

7. Improving Readability I
Higher resolutions require bigger type
!
at least 12px is required for sans-serif fonts
!
at least 14px is required for serif fonts
!
Line length of 40–80 characters
!
at least 1.4em line-height for body copy!
!
max. 1.3em line-height for headlines!
!

8. Improving Readability II
(Dos and Don’ts)
Use high contrast!
!
Avoid #000000 on #ffffff !
!
Avoid light text on dark backgrund!
!
Add lots of whitespace!
!
Add even more whitespace!
!
Use only left-aligned paragraphs (please!)
!

10. Foont smoothing
Sub pixel
rendering,
anyone?

11. Font choice and Readability
Serifs
or
No Serifs?

12. Classic web fonts
I’m Times New Roman
I’m Arial
I’m Verdana
I’m Georgia
I’m Lucida
I’m Trebuchet MS

13. Font choice for the web
Wait,
There’s more!

14. Vista font: Segoe UI
Rip-Off der weltbekannten Frutiger
!
(bzw. deren NEXT-Variante). Geniale
Schrift, wird hoffentlich zum zweiten
Standard in der Korrespondenz.
Rip-Off der weltbekannten Frutiger.
!
Geniale Schrift, wird hoffentlich zum
zweiten Standard in der
Korrespondenz.

15. Vista font: Corbel
!quot;#$%"'()"$%"'*%+',%+'-.%)$/'#0.'
!
1)0(+#,2)$'("3#+.4'5%.,'(%"'602'
!quot;#quot;!$%&'!(')('%#',+.'
7+(&quot;891(:;..+(<;#,+#6'+#1*%&:+$#4
! !quot;#$%&quot;'()&quot;$%&quot;'*%+',%+'-.%)$/'#0.'
1)0(+#,2)$'(&quot;3#+.4'5%.,'(%&quot;'602'
!quot;#quot;!$%&'!(')('%#',+.'
7+(&quot;891(:;..+(<;#,+#6'
+#1*%&:+$#4

16. Vista font: Calibri
!quot;#$%&'()&*+,-.&)quot;((/$%&0+$%1#$%2&
!
3#quot;&-quot;(0$%1#$%quot;,quot;&4,#+1.&'(#5quot;,0quot;11&
quot;#(0quot;678+,&'()&!quot;#$%!&'(quot;$&
'-9quot;0quot;6762
! !quot;#$%&'()&*+,-.&)quot;((/$%&0+$%1#$%2&
3#quot;&-quot;(0$%1#$%quot;,quot;&4,#+1.&'(#5quot;,0quot;11&
quot;#(0quot;678+,&'()&!quot;#$%!&'(quot;$&
'-9quot;0quot;6762

17. Vista font: Candara
!quot;#$%&#'()*quot;+,-.&/0(quot;1+,#$
!
2#&quot;%#(*.1#$%3&$!quot;#$%&'()*quot;+
,-##quot;$!-&.quot;&/0$4quot;&)$*#quot;)#&$)quot;#$
5.6quot;+$20(1$(quot;+,7$08*91#(:$4;&#$
08#&$<3(1+,#(1<#&7:
! !quot;#$%&#'()*quot;+,-.&/0(quot;1+,#$
2#&quot;%#(*.1#$%3&$!quot;#$%&'()*quot;+
,-##quot;$!-&.quot;&/0+

18. Vista font: Constantia
!quot;#$%&'()'*&%+,%-.%'!%&+,%-/quot;#&+,01'
!
23quot;4+*%&')-.'%+-'$%-+*'#+/05&+/quot;#%&'
36/'.+%'!quot;#$%$&'()%*%+,!-./'!0'
0&50(.%7'%8(%66%-0'6%/93&1':+&.'/+quot;#'
39%&'-+quot;#0'/5'.)&quot;#/%0(%-1
! !quot;#$%&'()'*&%+,%-.%'!%&+,%-/quot;#&+,01'
23quot;4+*%&')-.'%+-'$%-+*'
#+/05&+/quot;#%&'36/'.+%'!quot;#$%$&'()%*%+
,!-./'!0

19. Vista font: Cambria
!quot;#$%#&'()#quot;*quot;%#+#$,quot;)#&$)quot;-$*#+$
!
.#quot;'(-$(quot;&-/+quot;&'(#0$1/-#2$3#.'(#$
4#*/'($!quot;#$%&'&(#'$)&#*'$50*$0quot;'(-$
65-(#0-quot;&'(7
!quot;#$%#&'()#quot;*quot;%#+#$,quot;)#&$)quot;-$*#+$
!
.#quot;'(-$(quot;&-/+quot;&'(#0$1/-#2$3#.'(#$
4#*/'($!quot;#$%&'&(#'$)&#*'$50*$0quot;'(-$
65-(#0-quot;&'(7$$

20. Vista font: Consolas
!quot;#$%%$&'()*+$$&%$),-+$(
!
./&/)0-*$12*3+45'(56+(-%%$(
7/8$+9(!quot;#$%&'%quot;()*quot;#+quot;,-()/:-+(
-;5(8$<(.-*9
!quot;#$%%$&'()*+$$&%$),-+$(
!
./&/)0-*$12*3+45'(56+(-%%$(
7/8$+9(!quot;#$%&'%quot;()*quot;#+quot;,-()/:-+(
-;5(8$<(.-*9

21. Font Technology on the web
Font replacement
had its chance.

22. Font replacement techniques

23. Font Embedding
(the 2007 approach)
Outlook to
@font-face

24. @font-face
Has been around since 1998 (yes, really!)
!
Now Webkit does it with TrueType fonts.
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Great font piracy possibilities.
!
Possible solution from Ralf Hermann.
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Expect this feature to be used and misused.
!

25. That’s about it.
Thank you
very much :-)