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What does typography have to do with the web? There seems to be nothing here of value that is based on evidence about the readability of text. Especially in tod

What does typography have to do with the web? There seems to be nothing here of value that is based on evidence about the readability of text. Especially in today's era where the medium is not fixed, it makes zero sense to treat the web as a PDF.

SavantIdiot 5y ago
I think it that the entire web (excluding videos) is nothing but typography. Typography is not just about fancy flourishes and font serifs, it is about readability and how information is organized and presented visually. Granted, it does have a stylistic element (which is like adding chance to a board game), in that nothing is "perfect" because of culture and trends, but there are rules developed over the past four centuries that help make the medium more accessible.
arglebarglegar 5y ago
if you read any of this you’d realize that’s not what’s being suggested… it’s about making informed decisions about how you style text with css typography is generally involved with any text, many of these are standards that have existed for hundreds of years and still exist on computers
sonofhans 5y ago
Typography has everything to do with the web. Web design is 90% typography (cite below). Typography is not about perfectly or reverently setting text in immutable ways (viz your “PDF” comment). Typography is about encouraging and aiding readability, and allowing a piece of writing to have a subtextual voice. See, for example, the posts about Arctic Adventure (https://www.arctic81.com/ https://www.arctic81.com/). The typography on that site is harder to read than I’d like, but does absolutely put you in the time and place that the author wants. Jeffrey Zeldman said (in 2015): “Mobile is today’s first screen. So design responsively, focusing on content and structure first. Websites and apps alike should remove distractions and let people interact as directly as possible with content. 90 percent of design is typography. And the other 90 percent is whitespace.” (Zeldman knows his shit. He was one of the most influential designers and standards-setters for the early web, e.g., founder of the Web Standards Project, which was instrumental in helping us escape the minefield of browser-specific customizations in the late 90s). Most of the principles of good typography apply anywhere that type can be used, from books to billboards to websites to mobile games. Typography as a discipline is thousands of years old, and based in the fundamentals of human perception. We know how humans read. Typography is the practically application of that knowledge. There was a brief period where coolness and aesthetic appeal on the web trumped good typography principles (e.g., again, the Arctic Adventure site). Most of that has settled down, though, and most sites have reverted to simple and common standards.

SavantIdiot 5y ago

I think it that the entire web (excluding videos) is nothing but typography. Typography is not just about fancy flourishes and font serifs, it is about readability and how information is organized and presented visually. Granted, it does have a stylistic element (which is like adding chance to a board game), in that nothing is "perfect" because of culture and trends, but there are rules developed over the past four centuries that help make the medium more accessible.

arglebarglegar 5y ago

if you read any of this you’d realize that’s not what’s being suggested… it’s about making informed decisions about how you style text with css typography is generally involved with any text, many of these are standards that have existed for hundreds of years and still exist on computers

sonofhans 5y ago

Typography has everything to do with the web. Web design is 90% typography (cite below). Typography is not about perfectly or reverently setting text in immutable ways (viz your “PDF” comment). Typography is about encouraging and aiding readability, and allowing a piece of writing to have a subtextual voice. See, for example, the posts about Arctic Adventure (https://www.arctic81.com/ https://www.arctic81.com/). The typography on that site is harder to read than I’d like, but does absolutely put you in the time and place that the author wants. Jeffrey Zeldman said (in 2015): “Mobile is today’s first screen. So design responsively, focusing on content and structure first. Websites and apps alike should remove distractions and let people interact as directly as possible with content. 90 percent of design is typography. And the other 90 percent is whitespace.” (Zeldman knows his shit. He was one of the most influential designers and standards-setters for the early web, e.g., founder of the Web Standards Project, which was instrumental in helping us escape the minefield of browser-specific customizations in the late 90s). Most of the principles of good typography apply anywhere that type can be used, from books to billboards to websites to mobile games. Typography as a discipline is thousands of years old, and based in the fundamentals of human perception. We know how humans read. Typography is the practically application of that knowledge. There was a brief period where coolness and aesthetic appeal on the web trumped good typography principles (e.g., again, the Arctic Adventure site). Most of that has settled down, though, and most sites have reverted to simple and common standards.