Supplemental Resources for Designing E-Learning: Further Guidelines for Using Type Online

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Further Guidelines for Using Type

Consider these guidelines as you choose the size and fonts for the text in your online learning program.

Limit the Number of Fonts on the Screen to Two (2)

The more fonts that appear on the screen, the more difficultly learners have distinguishing the text. Choose one font for the headings and another for body text (all of the other text other than headings).

Furthermore, make sure that the two typefaces coordinate nicely; the typeface that you choose for headings should look good with the typeface you choose for body text. Generally, if you choose a serif font for one, choose a sans serif font for the other. For example, if you choose a sans serif font like Helvetica for headings, you might choose an sans serif font like Bodoni for the body text.

Some popular fonts other than the standard Times New Roman include:

Serif	Sans Serif
Century Schoolbook Georgia Palatino Trebuchet	Arial Tahoma Verdana

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Use the Same Font for All Headings

Also place all headings in bold text. Distinguish among headings by the size of type. A formula for determining the size of heading text is:

Heading 1=size of body text + 3 (if the body text is an odd number) or 4 (if the body text is an even number). For example, if the body text is 11 point, the size of a heading 1 would be 14 points; if the body text is 12 points, the size of a heading 1 would be 16 points.
Size of heading 2=size of body text + 1 (if the body text is an odd number) or 2 (if the body text is an even number). For example, if the body text is 11 point, the size of a heading 2 would be 12 points; if the body text is 12 points, the size of a heading 1 would be 14 points.
Heading 3=size of body. For example, if the body text is 11 points, the size of a heading 3 would be 11 points; if the size of the body text is 12 points, the size of a heading 3 would be 12 points.
Heading 4=size of body text, in bold and italic. (All other headings are just placed in bold.) For example, if the body text is 11 points, the size of a heading 4 would be 11 points (bold-italic); if the body text is 12 points, the size of a heading 4 would be 12 points (bold-italic).

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Make Sure the Size of Body Text Is Readable

For most type faces, 11 point is an appropriate size for body text.

If type face is small, you might increase the size to 12 points. (For example, Arial Narrow and Impact are small fonts.) You might also increase the size to 12 points if a significant part of your audience is over 40. As a practical issue, eyes start to deteriorate at age 40. Reading smaller type becomes increasingly difficult with age.

For years, the practical thinking was that sans serif fonts were easier for online reading, because the thinness of lines on some of the letters in serif fonts made characters difficult to distinguish (and therefore, difficult to read). As the display qualities of monitors improve, the display of serif letters improves. In printed materials, it is believed that the projections on characters help readers more easily distinguish letters.

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Appropriately Justify Text

Justification refers to the alignment of text on the margin.

Left justification refers to the aligning text along the left margin. Most text is left justified.

Right justification refers to aligning text on the right margin.

Centering text places text equally distant from either margin. (Because it is not aligned on either margin, centered text is, in a technical sense, not justified.)

You can also justify text on both the left and right margins. Margins that are not justified are called ragged.

Despite all of these choices, it is recommended that you only justify text on the left margin. Do not justify the right margin, too. To make sure that the text justifies on both margins, the system either stretches the letters or adds many extra spaces. The type looks strange, and interferes with reading.

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Appropriately Use Emphasis Type

Although emphasis type like bold and italic is perceived to call attention to text, publishing convention limits the use of each to particular instances. Furthermore, the excessive use of emphasis type works counter to the original intentions: rather than calling attention to text, it draws attention away from it.

So, specifically use emphasis type as suggested here:

Bold	Headings. Headings are broadly defined here to include headings on charts and tables. Captions.
Italic	Titles of published works (books, videos, CDs, software). Example: The Grapes of Wrath. Words that are appropriated from other languages and have not become standard English (words such as détente)
Underscore	Only to indicate hyperlinks. Avoid any other use. In the days of typewriters, underscore was used to serve the purpose of italic type, because the typewriter could not duplicate the italic (In fact, users click on underscored text, assuming it indicates a link.)
Color	Only use to indicate hyperlinks. When learners see colored text, they assume it to be a hyperlink, even if it does not have an underscore, and often click on it, only to have nothing happen.
ALL CAPS	Avoid (except for acronyms). This approach to emphasizing text fails on two levels. On a physical level, learners have more difficulty reading text that is all capitalized than mixed case letters. Learners have a difficult time distinguishing the letters. On an emotional level, learners usually perceive all cap type as being yelled at.

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