As a technical writer, you should know some basics about fonts and some basic rules to observe in your documents. The most basic distinction about fonts is whether they have a “serif” or not. That’s why font families fall into two main categories: Serif and Non-Serif fonts.

A serif is a small tail- or wedge-shaped appendage that extends outward from the end of a letter or symbol. “Times Roman” for example is a famous serif font and “Arial” is an equally famous non-serif font.

RECOMMENDED RULES Font Selection for Technical Writers:

1) Select your headlines from NON SERIF fonts (such as Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, Tahoma, Futura, Optima) and body text from SERIF fonts (such as Roman, Times Roman, Times New Roman, Georgia, Bookman).

2) ITALIC is designed to draw attention to itself by virtue of being difficult to read. So, in a human-readable block of text, it makes sense to emphasize a word or phrase by printing it in italics.

However, some authors print the entire web or print pages in italics! That defeats the whole purpose of the italic style. Anytime you use italic font, keep in mind that you are making your words harder to read. Therefore, use it sparingly, such as using pepper while cooking.

3) Do not use more than two or a MAXIMUM of three typefaces in your technical documents. A profusion of typefaces creates confusion in the mind of the reader. When it comes to fonts, less is always more.

4) Don’t assume that every computer has access to every font you have. All computers, however, come with a set of built-in “system fonts” They are automatically installed by the operating system. The most famous of these system fonts are Arial, Times Roman, and Courier. By using these three fonts, you can be sure that your document will appear on the receiving end with the same fonts that you used on your machine.

However, if you use a hard-to-get fancy font, the reader’s machine will substitute the “closest available font” to make your document readable. “Optima,” for example, can be replaced with “Arial,” and sometimes such substitutions change the way a page is laid out, usually for the worse.

Therefore, to be sure, stick to basic “system fonts” when designing a document that you expect to distribute and read online.