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LibGuides: Best Practice guide: Text Design

This guide will help you find resources about best practices, tips, and tricks for designing guides.

Fonts

  • Try to keep font size and font type consistent on all pages
  • San serif text is best for heading and small block of text
  • Text should be a contrasting color from the background
    • Use a dark background with light text  This text is cool!
    • Use a light background with dark text  This even cooler

Headings

  • Keep heading and subheading size consistent across pages and guides
  • Heading size H2 or H3 is recommended for main headings
  • Decrease the size for subheadings(e.g. H2--> H3 )

The H2 Heading

The H3 Heading

Lists

Use lists instead of sentences when possible. Lists should have between 3 and 7 items.

Numbered lists show items in a series, like procedural steps

  1. Understand the problem
  2. Identify alternatives
  3. Choose a solution

Bulleted lists show ideas without ordered sequence

  • Strategic planning
  • Brainstorming
  • Consensus building

Emphasis

  • Bold important words, key concepts, and vocabulary terms
  • Use italics for book, and magazine titles, quotations, and foreign words
  • Avoid large blocks of bold or italic text
  • Avoid ALL caps