Consider This: Serif vs. Sans Serif Fonts

Whenever I see my reflection, I always check to see how I look. Is my hair tidy? Do I look OK? Did I remember my pants this morning? Since I'm working on the shop floor all day, I want to make sure I'm representing the store well.

The same thing applies when I can't be there in person. Such as in an email, a resume, or even right now! When writing online, it takes a little extra time to ensure that the presentation (the first thing to catch the eye of the recipient) reflects us well. This is known as formatting.

Since there are plenty of formatting styles to apply, it can be overwhelming at times to know what to choose. How big should the text be? Where do I use bold, italic and underline? What font should I use? The easiest of these to control is the font.

The font decides the "handwriting" style of the text. Many fonts come with Windows or Word, and there are plenty of new ones to download for free. Some fonts you may already be aware of are Times New Roman and Arial.

There are two main ways of describing the way fonts are displayed. They are referred to as serif or sans serif fonts (sans serif meaning literally "without serif"). And what exactly is a serif?

Times New Roman

Look at the words above. They were written in a serif font. If you look closely at the letters, you'll see small lines coming off each letter. Before computers(!) the serifs would be applied at the end of each pen stroke. For example, on the T, there is a small vertical line hangingfrom the end of the top of the letter. There is also a small bar running across the bottom of the letter.

Arial

Sans serif fonts have no serifs (I'm sure you'd guessed that by now!). Notice in the text above that it looks much rounder, and because of the clarity it provides, sans serif fonts are very popular online. Online text displays at a much smaller proportion than we're used to, so the letters need to be as clear as possible.

Personally, I prefer sans serif fonts almost all the time. My favourite is Calibri, which is available with Office 2007 or the Office 2007 Compatibility Pack.

There are also other font types (or faces as they are known) as this Wikipedia link explains.

Serif and sans serif fonts both have their advantages and disadvantages, so if you're having trouble deciding, think about where your work will be published. On paper, serif fonts can lend a touch of class. Online, sans serif fonts won't clutter your page.

And of course, when in doubt, use Calibri!