CLASS 6 on Monday 9/16/2019
Today we are going to look into typography and how to implement it on the web using CSS.
Typography Basics
We will start with looking at typography basics. This post covers that and more. Don’t worry if you don’t pick it all up right away. It takes time and pracice.
CodePen Follow Along Example
Speaking of which we will use this codepen as a way to practice as we go along: https://codepen.io/profstein/pen/oPKzML?editors=1100
Fonts
Fonts are at the heat of typography and are the visual style of the text that people see on the page.
Web Fonts
Before web fonts came along, as a designer you never know which fonts a person had installed. As a result it was hard to know exactly how your type content would appear to each user. Web fonts are downloadable fonts that allows the viewer of your page to download the font you want them to use.
LONG list of web fonts: https://openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu/mmp-240-fall-19-stein/2019/09/16/web-fonts/
Google Fonts
Many of the fonts in the long list above are Google Fonts. This is a service that Google provides for free to help you embed fonts on your web pages. This post has more information about how to choose and use Google Fonts: https://openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu/mmp-240-fall-19-stein/2019/09/16/using-google-web-fonts/ .
Example for use in our CodePen
/* CSS to include web fonts from Google */
@import url('https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Lato:400,700');
@import url('https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Gentium+Book+Basic:400,400i,700,700i');
Font Pairing
This is the art of picking two or more fonts that will go together and work in harmony to display your content and fit the look and feel you’re going for. More information in this post: https://openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu/mmp-240-fall-19-stein/2019/09/16/font-pairing/
Typographic Hierarchy
The overall way in which you use type elements like color, size and spacing to show the user what text is important and which blocks of text are related to each other is the typographic hierarchy. Getting this right is a key component of good web design. This post has more information and a short video we will watch: https://openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu/mmp-240-fall-19-stein/2019/09/16/typographic-hierarchy/
CSS Properties for Typography
This post has more information on some of the basic properties you can use to style text: https://openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu/mmp-240-fall-19-stein/2019/09/16/css-properties-for-typography/
Typography Resources
- Typewolf: This is a site with many resources on typography. Some are paid, some are free.
- Typography Cheatsheet: https://www.typewolf.com/cheatsheet
- Typography Resources: https://www.typewolf.com/resources
- What Font: this is a bookmarklet and extension made by Chengyin Liu that lets you easily see what fonts are on any web page.
- Homepage and Bookmarklet: https://www.chengyinliu.com/whatfont.html
- Chrome Extension: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/whatfont/jabopobgcpjmedljpbcaablpmlmfcogm?hl=en
- Firefox Add-on: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/zjm-whatfont/
- Apple App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/whatfont/id1437138382?mt=12
- Professional Web Typography Online book https://prowebtype.com/
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