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Choose fonts wisely

Funky fonts can make a wonderful visual impact when they’re used sparingly. But using an off-the-wall font for a document’s primary text can make the document hard to read.

For long blocks of text, err on the side of readability—go with something fairly conservative. For small type, serif typefaces (those with tiny decorative strokes at the tops and bottoms of letters, such as Times and New York) tend to be easier to read than sans serif faces (such as Verdana and Arial). However, sans serifs—with their clean-cut edges—have a simplicity that some designers find irresistible.

Whatever typeface you choose, avoid using too many different fonts (unless you’re going for a ransom-note look, of course). Two fonts (and their associated alphabets—italic, bold, and so on) are enough to handle most of the text in most documents. Using one serif font and one sans serif font in a document—for example, using a serif font such as Janson for body text and a sans serif such as Gotham for subheads—can provide an eye-pleasing contrast. ( Click here for more on choosing typefaces.)

[ Charles Purdy is Macworld ’s managing editor. ]