Three myths about web typography
There is no clever trick in this one, just a handful of decisions worth making deliberately. A few things about web typography that get repeated more often than they get checked.
The measurable part of design is whether people can find what they came for and act on it without hesitating. The teams that stay on top of it are the ones who put it on a calendar rather than a wish list.
“It only matters for big sites”
Body text below 16px is a readability problem, not a style choice. That sounds obvious written down. It is still the thing most often skipped. Assume whoever inherits this will have half your context and none of your patience.
“We can deal with it after launch”
Sometimes true, usually expensive. Getting it slightly wrong is survivable. Ignoring it entirely is not.
“Our platform handles it”
Two typefaces is plenty for almost any site. The reasoning matters more than the rule, because the rule has exceptions. If two people in the business would answer this differently, that gap is the actual problem.
What this looks like day to day
Consistency is the quiet half of design work: it rarely gets complimented, and its absence is noticed immediately. Three things worth confirming about web typography before you move on:
- Someone can say what the current setup is without going to look
- Two typefaces is plenty for almost any site — and you know whether that is true here
- There is a way to tell whether the last change to this helped
If you want a second opinion on how yours is set up, ask.