Does web typography matter?

Recently, the situation with the typographic design of sites is slowly starting to improve, but the "average temperature in the hospital" is growing very uncertainly. And in conversations with different people, I often heard the question: “Why bother with typography on the site?”

I will try to answer this question. If to summarize and be honest, then with typography you need to bother not always.

Let's try to look at the very root. Why do I need a website? You can correct me in the comments, but in my strong opinion, the site is only a means of transmitting one or many messages from the creators or users to other visitors to the site. Corporate website or promotional website - means of transmitting marketing messages: image, services, products, positioning. Community site is a means of a) transmitting messages from users to users and b) a means of transmitting messages from creators: advertising, the very fact of the community, and so on. Splog is a means of transmitting messages from the creators to search robots.

Each message has its own goal, and the main task of the creator of any site is to make the messages delivered to the recipient with maximum efficiency. It is the effectiveness of message delivery that is a key measure of site quality, and not the quality of the design or structure of the site (which are only consequences of solving the problem of efficiency). Moreover, messages can be broadcast not only through the site, but also through other channels: RSS, mailing lists, broadcasts on Twitter and so on.

So, returning from the origins to typography, we see that it is necessary to pay attention to it in one single case: if typography contributes to the effectiveness of delivering messages using the site . And in this vein, quality typography works in two directions: increasing efficiencytext messages to living people (I will explain why below) and delivering the image message “We are so cool and professional that we pay attention to any little things”.

The image message “We pay attention to trifles” is very important on corporate and promotional websites of large companies (as well as small companies that want to seem cool professionals), online stores of expensive luxury goods, as well as portals and content projects designed for rich or discerning visitors. It is very likely that this image message is absolutely not a priority in the artificially made site of the community of lovers of swallowtail butterflies.

As for the effectiveness of delivering any text messages to people, the role of typography in this is quite obvious. Any text since the days of Gutenberg has three characteristics:

• Readability. High readability is important for long texts (from a paragraph) intended for continuous reading. The text should not be too small, should contrast with the background, the characters should not “stick together” or “run up”, the column of text should not be too narrow and not too wide, the vertical gap between the lines should also not be too large and not too small.
• Distinctness. High visibility is important for headings, given the short time that the user spends on “scanning” the page. The inscription should be large enough and noticeable.
• Noticeability. It is important in the text, which should attract attention. For example, this is the text that carries the most important message. We first see such a text, and then read it.

It is easy to understand that the correct choice of the values ​​of these characteristics for different blocks of text, as well as the means to achieve these values ​​(not to mention the harmonious combination of these characteristics for all blocks of text within the site) increases the efficiency of message delivery. And this activity is the direct patrimony of typography.

It is also worth noting that investing in increasing the effectiveness of messages is only reasonable if these investments pay off: money, resources, the same image. In some cases (for example, an internal site of a student’s study group or an online store with unique sales offers designed for a very narrow audience), these investments will not be economically justified.

Summary

So, quality typography is just a means, not an end in itself. And you need to pay attention to it only in two cases (which, however, are extremely common):

• The site should create an image of high professionalism of the owner, attentive to any details.
• The site should broadcast messages to live visitors with text with maximum efficiency.

In other cases when:

• no need to create an image,
• the content is so unique that there is currently no talk about message performance,
• messages are delivered using media, not text, or
• the resource broadcasts messages to robots,

typography can not be given attention. True, since the Internet is very plastic, the uniqueness of the content is a matter of time, and not very big. And when competing for resources with the same content, the more effective will ultimately win. Typography is one of the facets of this efficiency.

So think for yourself, decide for yourself - to print or not. And do not forget that typography is not a sacred cow, not a panacea, but also not a useless snobbish stray. Effective sites for you!