Here are a few Design Must Haves (or should I say Must-Knows) to remember for your blog.
I am not going to tell you these things to make your blog basic or boring or not “you”, but I am telling you these things because your readers need to be able to see clearly, not be confused and feel an eagerness to read when they are on your page.
1). Most important- A WHITE BACKGROUND (or very light). This makes it so much easier to read. It is very hard to read a blog, book, article (anything) when it is on a dark background. I will be honest that I normally just don’t even try because my eyes have a hard time adjusting to the dark background.
2). Black or dark gray (or a dark) text. Again, this just makes it easier to read.
Light background + Dark text = easy reading
3). Pick a font that is also easy to read. Script looks beautiful, but a lot of times it can be hard to read, as well. I have read over and over that the best font is serif (example: Times New Roman), because it is easiest to read. Not that you need to go with this one, but this just gives you a “Jumping off point” so that you can pick where to go from there. (ex: Sans Serif, Neutraface 2 , etc…)
4). If you are looking for more fonts, you can find them at the following sites:
Googlefont
DaFont
Font Squirrel
5). Check your fonts & your design on multiple devices! You can use a bunch of different websites for this (I just googled: How to check my design on multiple devices). Here is a good one – you click the device at the top right side of the page: CyberCrab
Next Wednesday: color choices for your blog
These are great! In my early years (on my previous blog) I experimented with all kinds of crazy stuff. But it only took a few times of trying to read someone’s blog that was white text on a black background and I learned that lesson… No amount of good writing can make me stay there. 🙂
Georgia
haha! Me, too! (early blog). You should have seen my very first blog 10 years ago- the background was a huge tree with money on it!! It was a money-saving blog. I think I had purple font… what was I thinking?!
Great thoughts on color. And font style. Thanks!
thank you!
I agree. I have seen some blogs with the black background. That makes it very hard to read and seems to affect the mood.
True. You & Christina (previous comment) think alike! 🙂 Its true though- they say color changes your mood & I agree.
I’m with you! I really don’t like reading dark background blogs. It puts me in a dark mood and is hard to read. Reading blogs is my happy and relaxing time…………Don’t stress me out people!
🙂
I wanted to change my font but I’m still scared to do it.I just got self hosted and I’m still learning a lot. I’m afraid to mess up my blog so I will have to wait for a while before I do this. LOL
haha! Just peeked at your page & I would say no rush! I read it just fine. 🙂
I totally agree about fonts. I really hate cutesy fonts. If I see comic sans I rarely stay and read. And any other “fancy” font. I think people use it to try to stand out, but there are so many better ways to do it.
Yeah, it looks pretty, but its hard for me to read.
Do you have any sites that could be recommended that do cheap (or even free) blog design??
Thanks!