it's All Around

Resources: CSS for Readability

In design, some things should jump out at you while others should fall to the background. The readability of your site (or any copy) is probably the best example of something that should go unnoticed at the conscious level. Why? Because text is a medium for conveying information. It should get the word across while being invisible itself. Great readable text does this seamlessly, almost pulling the reader through the content. Good content in readable text will cause a reader to sigh and relax, or stand up with a smile and raise their arms in the air or even sometimes pause for a moment as if something has just whispered in their ear to find their life's problems and hardships unraveling toward a wondrous future.

Below are some sources for readable typesetting (fonts, lines spacing, color, etc..), some tutorials on how to design readable text and the occasional neat tool or site that is relavant in some other way.

Here's the best statement of style, including readability standards, I've found on the web. Yes, it's from http://www.alistapart.com. A must read anyone producing content - http://www.alistapart.com/contribute/styleguide/

Here are some other random ones: (I will add to this list as time goes on)

• http://www.legistyles.com/ has three nice styles to choose from.
• If you're just getting into CSS, here is a very clear and straightforward tutorial for CSS readability.
• The folks at http://readable-app.appspot.com/setup.html have a pretty neat idea. They put together a tool that allows you to decide upon a typeset that you like, then make a bookmark in your toolbar that will convert any page to that typeset. I don't forsee myself using the bookmark much but next time I'm trying to figure a font for something clicking through the style element may come in handy.

If you know of any resources, please leave them as comments. Thanks!