Font-face for User Interface Design
Getting the right typeface for an interface is important, and without knowing more about the look you are after it’s hard to answer. Some questions to ask while you’re making the choice might include:
- Does the font have all the international characters you need? Research shows that the font (more correctly typeface) used for screen displays must be sans serif (e.g.Arial, Verdana). The definition of screen displays is nowhere near the definition of printed material which can be read more clearly with a serif typeface (e.g. Times New Roman). It’s a matter of how many pixels (screen) or dpi (dots per inch on paper) are available to make straight edges for the letters. Reference of common fonts on OS variants, look here:
- Does the font have all the weights and italics you need? (Large font families are expensive but allow more refined typographic choices)
- How important is it to be different? (Why not use system fonts?)
- What typefaces are your audience used to? Evidence suggests we read best in typefaces we are used to reading.
- Do you want a typeface with impact or for immersive reading?- Does the font display well large and small? Typefaces are often designed to work at particular sizes, the same font is unlikely to work best for large headlines and smallprint.- Does the interface have a particular rendering system - like Windows Cleartype? Would it make a difference if you get a font that is optimised for this?- How much do you value the right typeface? Most good fonts are expensive because they are good - the amount of work that goes into creating quality typefaces is amazing.
- Does the license allow the font to be used how you intend to use it?- Does the font have any ugly characters?
If you are embedding fonts, then any open-type font should work. You will need to test them with different display types, magnification methods and possible printed output etc.Extremely important is choosing fonts that will display across the platform, Mac or Windows, and for the applications they are meant to be used on.
Many “rules” for successful readability. One, easy to remember, is that your line length should not be longer than two to three times the alphabet length of the font. Very long lines impede readability, and are read more slowly by the user as the eye traverses the line from beginning to end and returns to the beginning of the next line
Windows PC from XP
http://www.microsoft.com/typography/fonts/product.aspx?PID=135
Apple iPad/iPhone/iPod
http://www.michaelcritz.com/2010/04/02/fonts-for-ipad-iphone/
Android
http://www.droidfonts.com/droidfonts/
