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Overall, the typography on your blog is pretty good. I'd definitely increase the contrast of the text though. Your measure is a little on the long side. A good

Overall, the typography on your blog is pretty good. I'd definitely increase the contrast of the text though. Your measure is a little on the long side. A good guideline is to keep it under 80 characters. You're stretching it a bit at 90-ish characters, but you've got plenty of leading, so you can get away with it. If you reduced your measure a bit, you could reduce your leading a bit so your paragraphs would have a more natural density and better vertical rhythm. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Measure_(typography) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Measure_(typography) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leading http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leading Note: You'll notice that CSS line height is not the same as leading, but old habits die hard, and I'm used to referring to it as leading. http://blog.8thlight.com/chris-peak/2012/12/30/vertical-rhythm.html http://blog.8thlight.com/chris-peak/2012/12/30/vertical-rhyt...

ckluis 14y ago
Marketers like to stick to 65-70 characters for what its worth.
brianwillis 14y ago
Thanks for this. It's some pretty insightful stuff. I'm not in a place where I can make changes right away, but I'll trim back the measure and fiddle with the line height until I find something I'm comfortable with. I'm not sure about the contrast though. Getting that one right is tough. My first attempt was a burn-your-retinas-out white that was so bright it almost hurt to read. Perhaps I've dialed it down too far.
- mixmastamyk 14y ago
  Contrast needs a boost. #aaa and #ccc text are good for dark backgrounds, #999 is imho too dark.
  - danielbarla 14y ago
    Seconded; with #999, I it irritates my eyes in a normal office environment. I quickly changed it in the browser, and anything from #AAA to #CCC looked fine.
lifeformed 14y ago
Do you count whitespace in the character count for the measure?
- bradleyland 14y ago
  Yes. Measure is the total length of the line. Whitespace adds to the length, so you have to count it.

ckluis 14y ago

Marketers like to stick to 65-70 characters for what its worth.

brianwillis 14y ago

Thanks for this. It's some pretty insightful stuff. I'm not in a place where I can make changes right away, but I'll trim back the measure and fiddle with the line height until I find something I'm comfortable with. I'm not sure about the contrast though. Getting that one right is tough. My first attempt was a burn-your-retinas-out white that was so bright it almost hurt to read. Perhaps I've dialed it down too far.

mixmastamyk 14y ago
Contrast needs a boost. #aaa and #ccc text are good for dark backgrounds, #999 is imho too dark.
- danielbarla 14y ago
  Seconded; with #999, I it irritates my eyes in a normal office environment. I quickly changed it in the browser, and anything from #AAA to #CCC looked fine.

lifeformed 14y ago

Do you count whitespace in the character count for the measure?

bradleyland 14y ago
Yes. Measure is the total length of the line. Whitespace adds to the length, so you have to count it.