Readability of blog text can be measured in both content (complexity) and it’s typography.  Typography is the art and technique of arranging a text to be legible and appealing.  Typography involves font selection, size, line length and spacing, and letter-spacing.

Fonts

Font Size

While a 16 pixel font is very common, font size should be, at minimum, 14 pixels.  This size is easily read on both large computer screens and mobile devices.  The preferred font size has changed as screen sizes have gotten progressively larger with time.

Font Color

The font color used largely depends on the type of blog you have and what your design concept is.  While the easiest to read is a black font with a white background, there are times and design concepts that welcome a different path.  Before you commit to a background and font color, you can use tools like Colorable, that tell you immediately if the contrast is right or wrong and what score the combination of colors gets.

Whitespace

Your text needs room to breathe, especially on a mobile device.  Larger font sizes need added whitespace for headings and paragraphs or your text risks being unreadable.  There should also be enough whitespace between your lines.  If you neglect the proper line height, your sentences can become one blog of letters, thus, being unappealing and non-user-friendly.

Link Clarity

We know that backlinks are important for SEO, however, the design of the links is also important.  Your text needs to easily differentiate what is a link, and what is not.

Line Length

A text line of 50-75 characters is a successful read for your audience.  Non-justified text should be 9-12 words per line, and justified text 12-15 words.

Creating a text that is nicely written isn’t terribly difficult in the aspects of readability.  Focus on simplicity, what is cohesive with your design concept, engaging content, and you’ll have an audience coming back for more.

For help with typography and graphic design concepts, contact us!