1.6 Selected Typefaces

he following fonts are recommended, because we believe them to be optimally readable based on the criteria including the following (Boyarski 1998):

• Good spacing
• Large x-heights
• Open counters
• Medium weight
• Distinct letterforms – a, e, o, c, b, d, p, q, I, l, i, j
• Low contrasting strokes
• Robust serifs

Some of these fonts are part of the default screen fonts that come with most computers.

The non-default faces will have to be embedded or downloaded to a web site. These faces can be used with Flash or other technologies which allow the fonts to be downloaded. These are personal favourites of the authors and their inclusion is certainly open to debate. Substitutes can most certainly be found and we encourage any designer to find and test them. This latter group of faces will have to be converted into a downloadable font format. (Embedding may require permission from the originating type foundry).

While a purist might object to downloaded fonts we believe them to be workable and it is the technology of the future. Legible downloaded fonts increase the range of design options for the designer, which is certainly welcome.

At this time we will not consider any other font styles such as fantasy fonts and mono fonts, as we will never even finish this first entry.