The Best Way to Improve Your Website's Usability

Most of the time, the attractiveness of your website affects its usability. An attractive, well-designed, and functional website will bring in more traffic to your site. One way to achieve this is to use good fonts, because it has an effect on how fast users can read your website's content. Since it makes up most of the web page elements (navigator bars, links, buttons, and menus), it will basically express most of your website's contents.

Font Faces

The most commonly used fonts in the internet today include Times New Roman, which is a serif font, and Arial, a sans serif font. On paper, Serif fonts are more comfortable to read because each letter is individualized. On computer screens, however, it will not be as comfortable because the screen resolution can affect the clarity of the text.

To broaden what we know about fonts, here are the two major categories of font faces:

1. Serif Fonts

Serif fonts have small appendages in the upper and lower portions of a letter. These are best used for large quantities of text. Fonts under this category include Times New Roman, Century, Bookman, and Courier.

2. Sans-serif Fonts

Possessing only primary line strokes, these fonts possess a simpler shape and are best used for short phrases. Examples include Futura, Helvetica, and Arial.

Font Style

Font Style, which refers to the use of italics, underline, and boldface, give better emphasis to your page's content. The usage of elements such as these should be used strategically. Underlining is not recommended on websites since they are usually associated to links. Boldfaces, when used too many times, can be very distracting. Likewise, italics should be used in moderation since they are not very legible on a computer screen. Font styles should only be used in a proper way, such as when providing emphasis and definition to certain terms.

Font Sizes

Font Sizes should also be used appropriately. Use at least 12 or 14-point font sizes, especially when your web page's visitors usually consist of people over 65. A smaller font tinier than 10-point should not be used since it gets a slower reaction from readers. Absolute font sizes should be avoided since it is very important that users are able to manipulate and control the size of the texts along with the specifics of display devices that they are using.

Some studies show that fonts that are tinier than 10-point gets slower reaction from users. It is advisable to use fonts that are at least 12 or 14-point in size when it comes to people over the age of 65.

Font Colors

In choosing font colors, make sure that it maximizes the legibility of the text in contrast to the background and at the same time for easier reading. Black, dark green, dark brown and dark blue are font colors that can be used for light backgrounds. On the other hand, if the background is dark, pale fonts in the white, green, and orange shades should be used. Do not use too many colors in a web page. One or two is acceptable, excluding the colors for link pages.

Images

Avoid using images that look like fonts. They take time to download, and its quality will not always be the same as the text produced by the browsers. These .jpg or .gif images are also hard to resize, and cannot be recognized by some voice-enabled browsers.

More Tips

Arial and Verdana, both Sans Serif fonts, are advisable for standard and high-ranking websites. The same font throughout the page should be used except for headlines and subheadings, since they need to capture the reader's attention first.

Your website should be designed to suit anyone who visits them. It is important that your site is well-designed to attract more people. Since you are aiming for more visitors, make sure that it can be accessed and used by people from all ages and all walks of life.