What fonts and sizes do you use for your PDF's?

by joe.marsh

Posted: 18 years ago 12 replies

INTERNET MARKETING

I am trying to create some pdf's...

What fonts and font sizes do you use for your pdf's in the following areas?

PDF title

sub-title

disclaimers

header

footer

chapter titles

chapter text

Thanks for your help...
Joe

#ebooks #pdf #product creation #reports

Amino Zawawi

18 years ago

I don't have a specific formula, however; here's what I go for in most cases.

PDF Title - Arial or Verdana, they are very prominent, you can spot them from a mile.

Sub-title - Same as above, smaller font size

Chapter titles - Calibri H/1 with an extended margin

Chapter text - Garamond, calibri, new times roman, since they are good for long periods of reading.

Hope this helps, Joe. This is only my way of doing it, I'm sure many of the experienced designers here can provide more suggestions.

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Steven Fullman

18 years ago

Hi,

Normally...

Headline: A Sans-Serif, such as Tahoma, Verdana, Arial

Subhead: Courier-New

Body Text: 12pt Georgia, Justified

Chapters: 20pt Georgia, Red, right-aligned with horizantal rule

Disclaimer: 12pt Georgia, Justified, Mid-Grey.

HTH,
Steve

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joe.marsh

18 years ago

Thanks Amino and Steve...

That helps a lot, are there any other responses from experienced wariors.

Joe

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MoaddinFM

18 years ago

is there any reason for noone using:

Arial
Times New Roman
?

As far as I know they are the most common used and so the readers are used to them in some manner and I guess they feel comfortable with them.

So, why change them?

Any thoughts? Experiences? Experiments or even studies about it?

Would appreciate every input guys, as this interests me alot :-P

Martin

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Tracy Yates

18 years ago

Joe,

I think if you stick with "sans serif" style fonts for your larger text inside your PDFs, such as headlines or chapter titles, that would be fine. The object of having the larger, bolder text is to draw your readers attention to those specific areas. You know, so they know where they are inside your ebook/report?

Using colors to further differentiate the larger text is also a good idea, but some might complain that it would use up far too much printer ink for those printing out. So, you could try using a lighter shade of black if you want your document to be "printer friendly" for either your headlines or your ebook/report content.

As far as readability issues are concerned, ask yourself this question. . .

Are your readers mainly going to utilize your products offline or online?

If they will be going offline to read your materials, then you should stick with a "serif" style font for your ebook text such as Times New Roman or Georgia. Reason being, it is simply easier to read in print.

If they opt for reading your goods online, then I would suggest you stick with a "sans serif" font for your contents such as Arial, Verdana, Tahoma, or the like. Same as reason above, it just makes reading online from their computer much easier.

As for font selection, I would say stick with those fonts that will be most common on most computer systems. Meaning, those fonts that come "pre-loaded" with computers. The most common being already mentioned.

And size? Well that depends. Most commonly used sizes for headlines, ebook/report titles, chapter headings would range from 16px on up to 36px or larger.

Most commonly used font sizes for content would be ranging from 11px up to 14px.

Other than that, it really depends on what you think looks good as to what style, size, color, etc. you should use inside your ebook/report.

Hope this helps you :-)

Tracy

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bobsstuff 18 years ago

DO NOT use huge fonts to increase the number of pages in your document.
To me it is very irritating to read large font reports in which a 3 page report it increase to 10 pages because of a huge font. I like to use 12pt --- as I got older slightly larger text is easier to read.
Pay attention 11 px or pixels is not the same as 11 pt or point.
11 pixels is tiny.
11 point is close to paperback book or newpaper size print.
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- joe.marsh 18 years ago
  
  Thanks Tracy,
  
  That gives me some good guidelines.
  
  Also, thanks Bob.
  
  Joe
  
  Thanks
  
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Dan C. Rinnert

18 years ago

Originally Posted by Tracy Yates

If they will be going offline to read your materials, then you should stick with a "serif" style font for your ebook text such as Times New Roman or Georgia. Reason being, it is simply easier to read in print.

I used to believe that too, but it's a myth. Serious studies have shown that readability is not affected by whether a font is serif or sans serif.

Of course, individual fonts may vary, but, generally speaking, as long as the font is clear and readable, it doesn't matter whether it is a serif font or a sans serif font. Just use a font that is legible at body copy type sizes.

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Tracy Yates 18 years ago

Interesting Dotcro. Guess we can learn something new everyday :-)

That's what I love about this forum.

Tracy
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- Colin Evans 18 years ago
  
  When it comes to viewing text on a screen, there are three fonts which are easy to read:
  
  ➢ Arial
  
  ➢ Helvetica (a licensed font and not readily available)
  
  ➢ Verdana
  
  The Arial font is somewhat of a Helvetica "stand in", but because it has been bundled with both PC's (using Windows) and Mac's it is the most readily available font.
  
  Verdana was designed specifically for on screen documents and is a very wide font which is easier to read when small font sizes are used, however it uses a lot of screen space for each character, so for font sizes over 12pt, Arial is the better option.
  
  The Times New Roman and Georgia fonts are printing favorites which have pretty much guaranteed their acceptance when used in print form, however they are among the more difficult fonts to read on a computer screen.
  
  When it comes to preparing a PDF, your best bet is to use Arial for the large text in your Titles and Chapter headings because the font is narrower and the characters closer spaced then Verdana.
  
  For the actual body text of your PDF (which uses a small font size) Verdana is a good font to use because it is easy to read and causes less eye strain. A 12pt Verdana font is just on the borderline of being too large at low screen resolutions, but is still very easy to read at high screen resolutions where most other fonts will be almost unreadable.
  
  If you want to pad your PDF report out and make it appear longer than it really is, your best bet is to use a 14pt Arial font, anything larger than that and you will start to lose credibility...
  
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Steven Fullman

18 years ago

Originally Posted by dotcro

Which studies?

I've been in the newspaper business half my life.

Here are MY results, backed up by $millions in readability studies, paid for by some of the largest print media companies in the world.

1. Serif fonts are more readable at smaller point sizes. Hence they make great body text.

2. Sans-Serif fonts are more readable at larger point sizes. Therefore they make better headlines.

3. That's it. 'cept to say, the same results hold true online.

Tsk...
Steve

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Hardi Wijaya

18 years ago

Originally Posted by joe.marsh

I can't comment on the font type. But I'm pretty sure that size 14 makes reading easier as more and more people switching their screen to higher resolution.

Hardi

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