CHAPTER 9 The Next Steps for Web Typography
Get your developers to build a safety net with rigid edit forms that
limit design explorations and preserve semantics throughout the CMS.
Consult the editor and establish a system of placeholders for the article
equipment, such as introductions, important facts (e.g. the most important
number), pull-quotes or side-notes and account for different combinations.
This might seem redundant, but if content hygiene and style consistency is
important, this is the way to do it. If National Public Radio^12 developed an
API for its content^13 , so too can the rest of us^14.(Responsive) Web Typographer
As Andrew Clarke once wrote^15 , “Responsive Web Design is web design,
done right.” Likewise, responsive Web typography is Web typography
done right. We use the responsive adjective temporarily, just as we one
used the phrase CSS based layouts until everybody and their neighbor’s dog
realized that tables were bad for laying out pages. Suffice to say, nowadays
everybody refers to layout as layout.
The primary role of typography is to provide an interface for the
message to be put across to the receiver. How you say it is often more
important than the information itself. However, Web typography is not
only about browsing font catalogues and smelling freshly baked type
specimens (don’t tell me you never do that!?). Web typography is primarily
concerned about making information accessible, legible and readable. That
is why understanding micro-typography is essential. If content can’t be
read comfortably, style doesn’t matter.
There are cases when we can superimpose style over substance. If the
content’s only purpose is to achieve a short term attraction and a one time
call to action, then style can be the first thing we should consider, but more12 http://www.npr.org/
13 http://blog.programmableweb.com/2009/10/13/cope-create-once-publish-everywhere/
14 Karen McGrane, “Adapting Ourselves to Adaptive Content”, http://smashed.by/adaptivecontent
15 http://the-pastry-box-project.net/andy-clarke/2012-january-3/