Windows XP Media Center Edition SDK Text and Fonts 

Text and Fonts

To accommodate users reading text from across the room, it is important to ensure easy readability by choosing the right font face, size, and color.

Avoid using serif fonts. Serifs can enhance readability in print media, especially in body text, but they tend to lessen readability on displays. Sans-serif fonts such as Arial and Trebuchet are easier to read. If you must use a serif font (for example, in a logo), size it to at least 25 points.

All text, especially for critical content such as buttons and links, should be sized to at least 20 points. Because screen space is limited and blocks of text in paragraph form are difficult to read at a distance, try to find economical ways to display text information, such as the following:

• Use lists of short phrases rather than paragraphs.
• Move larger blocks of text onto secondary pages.
• Edit text to remove any nonessential information.

Be sure that there is adequate contrast between text and its background, and use light and dark values to create contrast. The following illustrations are examples of good contrast.

The following illustration is an example of poor contrast.

Do not rely on differences in hue to provide contrast. For example, do not use a red and a blue of similar value. The following illustrations show the result of relying on differences in hue to provide adequate contrast.

Avoid the use of background patterns behind text. The following illustration is an example of text that can be difficult to read because it appears over a background pattern.

See Also

• User Interface Guidelines for HTML Applications

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