Your content is the most important feature of your website, so it's important to make sure that the text looks good and is easy to read no matter what device type or screen size it's being viewed on. One size does not fit all when it comes to typography, but you can use media queries to adjust type qualities such as size, line height, column width, margins, hyphenation, and even typeface depending on the viewport size. Learn how you can use CSS to apply design rules that will make your typography look better and perform better across devices. You'll also find out how typography affects the loading time of your website, and what you can do to improve performance. Presented in 2015 at ConFoo and Albany UX. Presented in 2014 at WebVisions Chicago, Blend Conference, Frontend Conference Zurich, Refresh Ottawa, Mobile+Web Dev Conference, STC Summit, Bmoresponsive, ConvergeSE, and Girl Geeks Montreal.

1. Responsive Typography
https://flic.kr/p/2mjtwC
Clarissa Peterson
@clarissa

2. Communication
https://flic.kr/p/6xyFnt

3. Font Size
https://flic.kr/p/4r1D8w

4. https://flic.kr/p/eYEFGY
Ems

6. 1em = default

7. 2em = twice as big
1em = default

8. 2em = twice as big
1em = default
.5em = half as big

9. h1 { font-size: 3em; }
h2 { font-size: 2em; }
h3 { font-size: 1.5em; }
p { font-size: 1em; }

10. h1 { font-size: 3em; }
h2 { font-size: 2em; }
h3 { font-size: 1.5em; }

11. h1 { font-size: 3em; }
h2 { font-size: 2em; }
h3 { font-size: 1.5em; }

12. <p>This is 1 em.</p>
<div>This is 2 ems <span>(and 1.5 ems)
</span>.</div>

13. <p>This is 1 em.</p>
<div>This is 2 ems <span>(and 1.5 ems)
</span>.</div>
p { font-size: 1em; }
div { font-size: 2em; }
span { font-size: 1.5em; }

14. <p>This is 1 em.</p>
<div>This is 2 ems <span>(and 1.5 ems)
</span>.</div>
p { font-size: 1em; }
div { font-size: 2em; }
span { font-size: 1.5em; }

15. Thoughtful CSS
https://flic.kr/p/bUxzCm

17. div { font-size: 1.1em; }

18. div { font-size: 1.2em; }

19. body { font-size: 100%; }

20. http://alistapart.com

21. https://flic.kr/p/8iNCNU

22. Scale
https://flic.kr/p/dhufQk

23. http://www.oliverharvey.co.uk/

24. http://www.oliverharvey.co.uk/

25. http://www.linksture.com/

26. http://www.linksture.com/

27. http://skinnyties.com/

28. http://skinnyties.com/

29. https://flic.kr/p/5a4L3p
Rems

30. html { font-size: 100%; }

31. Fallback
https://flic.kr/p/GedyD

32. h1 { font-size: 32px; font-size: 2rem; }

34. Line Height (Leading)
https://flic.kr/p/4EDFYF

37. p { line-height: 1; }
p { line-height: 2; }

40. p { line-height: 1; }

41. p { line-height: 2; }

42. p { line-height: 1.4; }

43. p { line-height: 1.3 }

44. p { line-height: 1.3 }
@media only screen and (min-width: 30em) {
p { line-height: 1.4 }
}

45. p { line-height: 1.3 }
@media only screen and (min-width: 30em) {
p { line-height: 1.4 }
}
@media only screen and (min-width: 60em) {
p { line-height: 1.5 }
}

46. Vertical Margins
https://flic.kr/p/4qc5EB

48. p {
line-height: 1.5;
margin-top: 1.5em;
margin-bottom: 1.5em;
}

49. Line Length (Measure)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Metal_movable_type.jpg

52. 45-75 Characters

53. 74
72
69
69
65
58
65
73
68
67
66

55. <p>These stories are true. Although I have
left <span class=”testing”>the strict line
of historical</span> truth in many places,
the animals in this book were all real
characters.</p>

56. <p>These stories are true. Although I have
left <span class=”testing”>the strict line
of historical</span> truth in many places,
the animals in this book were all real
characters.</p>
.testing { color: #f00; }

57. <p>These stories are true. Although I have
left <span class=”testing”>the strict line
of historical</span> truth in many places,
the animals in this book were all real
characters.</p>
.testing { color: #f00; }

58. http://codepen.io/chriscoyier/pen/atebf

64. Media Queries
https://flic.kr/p/ajTNcB

65. https://flic.kr/p/8U1KwJ

66. article p {
line-height: 1.3;
margin: 1.3em 0;
}
article {
width: 94%;
margin: auto;
}

68. max-width
https://flic.kr/p/7nCGk3

70. article { max-width: 28em; }

71. article { max-width: 28em; }

73. @media only screen and (min-width:48em) {
article { font-size: 1.1em; }
article p { line-height: 1.4;
margin: 1.4em auto; }
}

74. http://www.mqtest.io

76. @media only screen and (min-width:60em) {
article { font-size: 1.2em; }
article p { line-height: 1.5;
margin: 1.5em auto; }
}

79. Alignment & Hyphenation
https://flic.kr/p/8veLPW

82. .hyphenate {
-webkit-hyphens: auto;
-moz-hyphens: auto;
hyphens: auto;
}

83. @media only screen and (max-width: 40em) {
.hyphenate {
-webkit-hyphens: auto;
-moz-hyphens: auto;
hyphens: auto;
}
}

84. <html lang="en">

85. Easy to read
https://flic.kr/p/8iCtLv

86. article p:first-of-type {
font-size: 1.2em;
}

87. Typeface
https://flic.kr/p/5q1Qj1

90. #intro {
font-size: 1em;
font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;
}

91. #intro {
font-size: 1em;
font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;
}
@media only screen and (min-width:30em) {
#intro {
font-size: 1.2em;
font-family: Populaire, sans-serif;
text-transform: uppercase;
}
}

92. Performance

93. Web Fonts
https://flic.kr/p/51wXrK

94. @font-face {
font-family: ExampleFont;
src: url('ExampleFont.eot');
src: local('Example Font'),
url('ExampleFont.eot?#iefix')
format('embedded-opentype'),
url('ExampleFont.woff') format('woff'),
url('ExampleFont.ttf') format('truetype'),
url('ExampleFont.svg') format('svg');
font-style: normal;
font-weight: 400;
}

95. @font-face {
font-family: ExampleFont;
src: url('ExampleFont.eot');
src: local('Example Font'),
url('ExampleFont.eot?#iefix')
format('embedded-opentype'),
url('ExampleFont.woff') format('woff'),
url('ExampleFont.ttf') format('truetype'),
url('ExampleFont.svg') format('svg');
font-style: normal;
font-weight: 400;
}

96. @font-face {
font-family: ExampleFont;
src: url('ExampleFont.eot');
src: local('Example Font'),
url('ExampleFont.eot?#iefix')
format('embedded-opentype'),
url('ExampleFont.woff') format('woff'),
url('ExampleFont.ttf') format('truetype'),
url('ExampleFont.svg') format('svg');
font-style: normal;
font-weight: 400;
}

97. Use fewer fonts

98. @font-face {
font-family: ExampleFont;
src: url('ExampleFont.eot');
}

99. @font-face {
font-family: ExampleFont;
src: url('ExampleFont.eot');
}
p { font-family: Arial, sans-serif; }

100. @font-face {
font-family: ExampleFont;
src: url('ExampleFont.eot');
}
p { font-family: Arial, sans-serif; }
@media only screen and (min-width: 30em) {
p { font-family: ExampleFont, Arial,
sans-serif; }
}

101. System Fonts
https://flic.kr/p/eiyWiy

102. http://www.jordanm.co.uk/tinytype

103. h1 { font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'Droid
Sans', sans-serif; }
http://www.jordanm.co.uk/tinytype

104. <link href="http://fonts.googleapis.com/
css?family=Josefin+Slab
&text=TitleofWebsite" rel="stylesheet"
type="text/css">

105. Communication
https://flic.kr/p/6xyFnt

106. https://flic.kr/p/cdVB9h
Clarissa Peterson
Peterson/Kandy
clarissapeterson.com
@clarissa