Using Appropriate Fonts

Your documents should have both serif and sans serif fonts, where appropriate.  Serif fonts have decorative feet around the letters.  Sans serif fonts do not have decorative feet.

 

Example

Use a serif font for your body text:

• Cambria
• Times New Roman
• Garamond
• Georgia
  
  

Use a sans serif font for headings in your document: 

• Arial
• Corbel
• Century Gothic
• Tahoma
  
  

Avoid using flashy fonts:

• Lucinda Handwriting
• Papyrus
• Comic Sans
• Courier New

 

Emphasizing Text

To draw attention to your text, make your font bold.  Only use bold words when you need to emphasize a certain point or word.

Underlining a word makes it more difficult for the reader to distinguish the shapes of the words.  Also, underlined words have the connotation of being hyperlinks.  Avoid underlining words.

Typing in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS also makes it harder for readers to understand the shapes of words.  Avoid writing in all caps.     

In some cases, changing the color of the font is acceptable.  Ensure that you have enough contrast between your background color and your font color so it is easy to read.

 

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