Macro and Micro Typography
A truly vital aspect of Web Design, or any text-based medium is the correct use of Typography, which is essential aspect to a clear and coherent Web Site.
Typography is ‘the work of setting and arranging types’, in such a way that is visually appealing, accessible and easily readable. No matter how good your web sites content is, unless the presentation of the text allows all aspects of the information to be accessed easily, the quality of the content will be sacrificed.
The two key aspects of Typography in Web Design are ‘Macro Typography’ and ‘Micro Typography’ which both deal with different, but equally essential elements of Typography.
Macro-Typography
Macro-Typography focuses on the makeup of the text as a whole, ensuring the text has continuity with the Web Pages layout. This means carefully spaced paragraphs, all in relation to the colour scheme, pictures and other text on the page.
Some of the most pivotal factors to consider in Macro-Typography include:
Correct Measure –Measure deals with the amount of characters in each line and ensuring that the amount of characters is in continuity with the paragraph as a whole. Finding a suitable Measure is vital when transferring text to a web page, as these to formats will most likely have completely different dimensions.
Leading – While Measure concerns horizontal space, Leading deals with Vertical space. The Vertical space of the text must take into account the overall depth of the page, while considering each paragraphs relation to each other.
Consistency in Platforms – Consideration must be given as to how text appears on different operating systems, the ideal being exactly the same appearance on each system respectively. This means that all aspects of typography must be considered in relation to each format.
Micro-Typography
Micro-Typography focuses on the more subtle aspects of arranging the text, such as spacing and typing.
Tracking– Tracking involves adjusting letter spacing, to suit the page. This technique is often overlooked, but very important element to consider. Although it may seem fairly trivial, the amount of space between letters in a sentence has a large effect on not only the presentation of the text, but how accessible it is to read.
Expansion– Expansion deals with the width and size of glyphs. A Glyph is an aspect of a particular typeface and how they differ in each font, like for example italics. Glyphs need to be carefully considered in the overall context of the text, as different fonts and spacing can often leave glyphs looking out of place in a text.
Article Written by Sam Logan, Senior Web Designer at SJL Web Design
