What to Watch Out for When Working on Typography for Print and Web Part Three

3. Characteristics of A Suitable Font For Body Text 

As every suggestion, this one comes along with a number of explanations and exceptions. A choice of a suitable font for body text on the web is not as dichotomous as ‘serif vs. non-serif’.

There are characteristics which can help you recognize which font, even if it does not specifically have a webfont edition, is a good candidate to be such: 

• Tall x-height, or reduced ascenders and descenders. It increases the readability of the font, keeping letterforms recognizable, but not ‘wasting’ space on increased contrast between capitals and regular script. 
• Decreased contrast between strokes and serifs. This helps to avoid unpleasant blurriness at small font sizes. On average, Georgia has lower contrast between strokes and serifs than Garamond. 
• Lower contrast between strokes and serifs makes Georgia more readable at a smaller size. Relatively wider letterforms and open apertures. That extra bit of space inside the letters makes them more recognizable when the text is read quickly.