How to Choose a Font for Your Blog

Your readers might not even be finishing your posts anymore, and it might not necessarily be what you're writing about. You spend a lot of time writing your posts, and hope someone is reading and will comment, but you are actually decreasing your chances of anyone even finishing your post when you use a font that resembles a middle school student's handwriting or lightening bolts. You need to make sure your readers are getting the best possible experience, and the font you use is a huge part of that.

Choose a Font Without Frills

Sans-serif fonts - fonts without the little "feet" - are always your safest bet. These include Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, and Tahoma. They're the easiest to read on screen, and none of their letters can be mistaken for anything else. Also, unless they're below ten pixels (10px) in size, your readers won't have to squint to make them out.

If you absolutely hate sans-serif fonts, serif fonts are your next best bet.

Don't Use Fonts That Look Like Handwriting

If you really must use a handwriting font, use one that is legible at 12px. If you have to set your font size any higher than that and still can't can't read your own posts once they're published, you shouldn't be using that font on your blog.

Leave Your Words Naked

Your posts should not be all in italics or bold. Italics and bold are for emphasis only. It will hurt your readers' eyes. If the font you've chosen is too light on the screen without being in bold, you need to either pick a new font, or adjust the font color.

Don't Burn Your Readers' Eyes

You should not use anything other than a dark grey for your font color in the body of your post. (It's okay to brighten up the color of your titles and links.) Stay away from neon colors, especially green or pink, don't ever use yellow, and use red with caution (darker reds are much easier on the eyes).

Dark grey on a white background is the easiest color to read on screen; black on white backgrounds tends to strain your readers' eyes after a while. You can also use light grey on a black background; never, ever use pure white on a black background, as it strains your readers' eyes as well.

It's okay to use a color for your blog's background, but make sure the section where your words are written is either white with dark grey text or black with light grey text.

Test, Test, and Test Again

Any time you change the look of your blog, you should take a look at it yourself. Ask yourself: "Can I read my posts for fifteen minutes or more at a time without my eyes hurting?" "Is this color too bright?" "Could the letters in the font I'm using be mistaken for other letters?" When in doubt, ask your readers.