When you are developing a website, one thing you will hear repeatedly is that “content is king.” What this means is that the articles, blog posts, photographs and interactive portions of your website is what really matters as far as attracting and retaining visitors. This is some of the best advice you will receive—content is vitally important. However, there is something to say for presentation as well. If content is king, presentation is queen. Two of the most important things to keep in mind in terms of presentation is white space and font choice.
White Space
White space is the portion of your webpage that has no content. While white space is utilized in all forms of media, it is vitally important on your webpage. White space makes the content within stand out and attract the attention of the reader. One of the recommendations to web content creators is that paragraphs should be small. One of the main reasons for this is to generate white space. Other ways to generate white space is by utilizing subheadings and bulleted lists. Using all these strategies will help your most important information stand out to your visitors.
Fonts
Choosing one font over another can make a big difference in the overall appearance of your website and the feeling it inspires in those who read it. There are two main types of fonts—serif and sans serif. Serif fonts have extra flourishes or additions to the edges of the letters. For instance, the common font “Times New Roman” is a serif font. Simple serif fonts are often easier to read because the letters are distinctive from one another, they also appear “fancier” and can portray a sophisticated look. Sans serif fonts do not have these additional flourishes, and as such often appear a bit more modern and clean. “Arial” is a common sans serif font.
There are some fonts that immediately portray certain feelings. One of these is Comic Sans. Comic Sans is a sans serif font that is often used for lighthearted use. Many font “experts” feel that it has no place on professional page.
No matter what style you want to portray, the most important thing to keep in mind is that you want to choose a font that most of your visitors will be able to see when they click through to your page. Because of this, you may wish to choose one of the top 10 most popular fonts. According to a 2011 survey by Codestyle, each of these fonts are installed on over 99.5% of computers running the windows operating system.
- Lucida Sans
- Tahoma
- Arial
- Verdana
- Microsoft Sans Serif
- Times New Roman
- Trebuchet MS
- Courier New
- Comic Sans MS
- Georgia
Creating the perfect presentation for your webpage is important. Spend some time considering how easy it will be for readers to scan your page quickly. Utilizing plenty of white space and choosing the right font will make a big difference and allow visitors to get the most out of that all-important content–whether you create it yourself or you prefer to use website content services.
Tracy S is a freelance writer available on WriterAccess, a marketplace where clients and expert writers connect for assignments.
