Ten Deadly Sins Web Typography
While many designers quickly master the standards of web development, one can only wonder how often they manage to violate the basic rules of typography. Here is a list of ten sins that you should avoid:
1. Use hyphens instead of em-dash.
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If you need to interrupt a thought, then do it with a symbol (alt + 0151), and not with a couple of minus signs. This is perhaps the main source of irritation for all editors.
2. Using dots instead of dots.
Most fonts provide a special ellipsis character (alt + 0133) that will make your text more accurate. The dot character places three dots in one character, which is especially convenient for further printing.
3. Using invalid quotes.
Direct quotes "up and down", which are used in markup languages, let them remain there. In the text, use them only to indicate length in feet or inches.
4. Double space between sentences.
The practice of double spaces for the separation of sentences seems to be getting out of use. Just a few years ago, it was required to manually insert an ASCII space to perform this moveton. But today, some CMS, if allowed, can make this mistake for you. Do not give them that chance! Use single spaces between sentences.
5. Improvised copyright symbol.
This not only looks ugly and speaks of your laziness, but will work against you in court. Use the real symbol (alt + 0169) and record the legal service to the client. :)
6. Too much stress.
You can make the text bold. You can write it in italics. You can emphasize it. You can even use capital letters only if you want to really drive your thought into the reader’s head. Just do not use more than one dose at a time.
7. Incorrect underlining of hypertext links.
The underline is drawn over the bottom of your characters, making it difficult to read. Instead of text-decoration: underline; use border-bottom: solid 1px # 00f; in order to draw a line under the text.
8. Shading fonts in Photoshop.
If your font does not have bold, italics and a capital, then do not try to fake them in Photoshop. This sometimes works in printed materials, but with the screen resolution of modern web pages it will look crooked.
9. Avoid characters with an accent.
I know how annoying they can be (especially if you write about IKEA furniture), but if someone’s name includes exotic characters, then be polite and use them.
10. Non-use of CSS to change the case of text.
Caps Lock is an integral element of the slope, but if you want to display text exclusively in uppercase (or lowercase) letters, then do it with the help of the text-transform CSS property. This will save you from many problems in the future if you suddenly want to change the style of registration.
From the translator: the translation was made with the kind agreement of the editor of Smashing Magazine. I recommend to subscribe to the RSS of this site, since their articles are very interesting and beautiful.
From the translator 2: By itself, this translation does not claim to be the ultimate truth. Read the comments, in which a lot of reasonable clarifications and amendments.
1. Use hyphens instead of em-dash.
')
If you need to interrupt a thought, then do it with a symbol (alt + 0151), and not with a couple of minus signs. This is perhaps the main source of irritation for all editors.
2. Using dots instead of dots.
Most fonts provide a special ellipsis character (alt + 0133) that will make your text more accurate. The dot character places three dots in one character, which is especially convenient for further printing.
3. Using invalid quotes.
Direct quotes "up and down", which are used in markup languages, let them remain there. In the text, use them only to indicate length in feet or inches.
4. Double space between sentences.
The practice of double spaces for the separation of sentences seems to be getting out of use. Just a few years ago, it was required to manually insert an ASCII space to perform this moveton. But today, some CMS, if allowed, can make this mistake for you. Do not give them that chance! Use single spaces between sentences.
5. Improvised copyright symbol.
This not only looks ugly and speaks of your laziness, but will work against you in court. Use the real symbol (alt + 0169) and record the legal service to the client. :)
6. Too much stress.
You can make the text bold. You can write it in italics. You can emphasize it. You can even use capital letters only if you want to really drive your thought into the reader’s head. Just do not use more than one dose at a time.
7. Incorrect underlining of hypertext links.
The underline is drawn over the bottom of your characters, making it difficult to read. Instead of text-decoration: underline; use border-bottom: solid 1px # 00f; in order to draw a line under the text.
8. Shading fonts in Photoshop.
If your font does not have bold, italics and a capital, then do not try to fake them in Photoshop. This sometimes works in printed materials, but with the screen resolution of modern web pages it will look crooked.
9. Avoid characters with an accent.
I know how annoying they can be (especially if you write about IKEA furniture), but if someone’s name includes exotic characters, then be polite and use them.
10. Non-use of CSS to change the case of text.
Caps Lock is an integral element of the slope, but if you want to display text exclusively in uppercase (or lowercase) letters, then do it with the help of the text-transform CSS property. This will save you from many problems in the future if you suddenly want to change the style of registration.
From the translator: the translation was made with the kind agreement of the editor of Smashing Magazine. I recommend to subscribe to the RSS of this site, since their articles are very interesting and beautiful.
From the translator 2: By itself, this translation does not claim to be the ultimate truth. Read the comments, in which a lot of reasonable clarifications and amendments.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/36654/
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