
Legibility research is inconclusive as to whether serif fonts are truly better than sans serif. “Unfortunately, the new guideline is not as clear-cut as the old one. Because computer screens were too lousy to render serifs properly, attempting serif type at body-text sizes resulted in blurry letter shapes. “The old usability guideline for online typography was simple: stick to sans-serif typefaces.

This is because the screen resolution is sharp enough to handle the lines and strokes in the typeface.Įven as early as 2012, Jakob Nielsen of the Nielsen Norman Group, which focuses on user experience, research and training, noted that better screens are changing the landscape of typography guidelines for website design. And they are perfectly easy to understand. Books on many e-readers and tablets are set in serif typefaces. More dots per screen inch correlates to richer detail for everything, including typography. One of the biggest myth busters when it comes to “you must use sans serif typefaces for website design” is the emergence of high definition screens.
