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Font Size - Use familiar fonts that are at least 12 - points. Use a fluid design to facilitate those with different browsers and poor vision. Never use less than nine-point font on a website. If your traffic is 65 or over, it may be wise to use 14 - point fonts.
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Text Color - When users are expected to rapidly read and understand prose text, use black text on a plain, high-contrast, non-patterned background. People read black text 20% faster than any other text color.
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Font Type - The most readable text font is Arial or Ventura. Note: Ventura increases the size of the font.
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Lower Case Vs. Upper Case - Lower case is easier to read and is the fastest possible reading speed. Avoid using all caps. Users have a tendency not to read or comprehend text in all caps.
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Heading Font Size - The general rule is to use 2 - points more than the text font size.
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Visual Consistency - Ensure visual consistency on all website pages. Visual consistency includes font size, spacing, color, and backgrounds.
Bold Text - Use bold text only when it is important to draw the user's attention to a specific piece of information. The trend is to use too much bold text.
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Color Coding - When using color coding on your website, be sure that the coding scheme can be quickly and easily understood. To help your user, define the definition of each color. Simply create a color key at the bottom of the chart. User's comprehension improved by almost 40% when color coding was used.
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Highlight Information - Do not use different methods to highlight information on the same page. To avoid user confusion be consistent with highlighting.
