Writing for the Web

Fonts for the Web

The fonts you use on your website will influence visitors impressions of you. Formal, Casual, Serious, White Collar, Blue Collar, Friendly, Fun can all be conveyed by font choice and size. The creation of fonts is called typography and it is a skilled trade with roots that go way, way back. Fonts for digital viewing are a specialized branch of this art.

One of the requests I receive most often is to use a non standard font for the body of a website. There are a very limited number of fonts that will display on most computers. When a website is created, a font (or better yet, a font family) is specified with a tag. Tags are instuctions written into html code that are not visible to human viewers. These tags instuct the users computer how to display components of a webpage (text in this case).

Fonts need to be legible, scalable and (this is VERY important) they must reside on the receiving computer. If a font is specified that is not installed on a viewers’ computer, that computer attempts to “guess” what the font might be like or uses the default font for viewing. It is a mistake to specify typefaces that are specialty fonts not intended for body copy and best used in headlines as a graphic (like the samples of type image below).

Fonts are broken down into two main categories - serif and sans serif. Serif typefaces have the little lines at the edges of each letter. San serif are plain. Times Roman is a serif typeface, Arial is a san serif face. There are also three much less used families - Cursive, Fantasy and Monotype.

As you cannot tell which fonts are installed on a viewers computer, you can specify a font family. This tag will include a list of similar fonts and the viewers computer will use the first font in the list that it understands.

What you have to say is important - make sure that the font doesn’t interfere with your viewers ability to read your message.

SEO What!

Sooner or later, if you have a website, you’re going to hear the term “search engine optimization” or SEO. This describes a process of enhancing or modifying a website for the purpose of attracting favourable search engine attention. By search engines most people these days mean Google, Yahoo or MSN - the big three.

There are two basic concepts in SEO world - the methods are conveniently named “Black Hat” and “White Hat”. Black Hat SEO usually violates a search engine’s guidelines (yes, there are rules - read Google’s here) by keyword stuffing, artificial linking, cloaking, irrelevent keywords etc. I should mention that although this may not be ethical, there is nothing illegal about this. The biggest problem with Black Hat is it provides a short term solution. Search engines are successful when they can supply a list of websites that provide you with what you are looking for. It is in the interests of the search engine companies (and their investors) to ferret out and remove websites that are poor quality.

Which brings us to “White Hat” or organic SEO. The focus of this method is to provide rich and original content, organized systematically for both human visitors and search engines, and driven by studies of users. Search Engines spend a lot of time and money determining what users want from their queries. Websites that deliver, based on the users desires, will be ranked high in the search returns. ”White Hat” looks to improve a site not only for search engines but for users as well.

There are guidelines to follow when creating a search engine friendly site - it isn’t magic. Whether you are selling a product or service, an effective website needs to be a resource to be successful. There has to be a reason for others to link in to your site, a reason for visitors to stay longer and return. Original content, carefully thought out and organized in a logical manner takes skill, time and effort. Specific search engine information should be included in each page and within the website as a whole.

All this is Search Engine Optimization.

What's in a name?

• DOT COM?
  When possible select a .com address. This is a top level domain name
  extension and is also the most demanded and recognized extension. You should
  always where possible register the .com domain name. A VERY close second
  (sometimes a First choice) is a .ca domain for my clients who live in
  Canada.
• SHORT AND SIMPLE
  If you already have a business name look
  for the shortest version possible and
  Try to avoid hyphens - potential visitors really don’t like to look
  around on their keyboards for this elusive symbol.
• YOU CAN’T DO THAT!
  Domains can have letters and numbers and hyphens. They
  cannot have spaces. 106 Includes Arcoxia side effects, interactions and indications Buy Arcoxia You should purchase arcoxia ARCOXIA (etoricoxib) is a member of a class of arthritis/analgesia medications called Coxibs That’s the rules. And don’t think
  it’s smart or cute to use a trademarked name or slogan.
  You may get away with it for a short time, but companies with really nasty
  lawyers and all the time in the world will eventually focus their unwanted
  attention on you. If you’ve infringed you’ll lose. It’s that simple.
• SPELLING, SPELLING AND MORE SPELLING
  If at all possible, stay away from words that are
  frequently misspelled or not well known. My geographic region is
  the Cowichan Valley. I love living here, but even if you are familiar with
  this place it’s a difficult name to spell. There are trendy spellings for
  words - such as using a z for an s as in “dezine” - clever, but
  not a good idea for a domain name unless you’re prepared to spend a
  fortune branding this choice.
• REMEMBERING
  A domain name that is easy to remember works well. A domain
  that is easy to remember and fun to say is even better.
• REGISTER
  If you find a domain name that you like … register it. It
  costs very little money and then the name is locked in and yours.
• RELAX
  If you let the search for a name overwhelm you, you may never get
  started. Take a deep breath, give it your best shot and jump in. If
  you have a well marketed web and you are offering what people
  want   - they’ll find you.