Basic Rules of Typography:

  1. Insert only a single space after all punctuation.
  2. Use proper em and en dashes where appropriate.
  3. Use true quote marks and apostrophes.
  4. Use a smaller point size for all-uppercase text.
  5. Add letterspacing to capitalized text and small caps.
  6. Use oldstyle figures when available and where appropriate.
  7. Use a slightly smaller point size for numbers (when Oldstyle numerals are not available).Using boldface text sparingly.
  8. Avoid using underlined text.
  9. Use the copyright, registered trademark and trademark characters.
  10. Use the ellipsis.
  11. Decrease the size of the ballot boxes.
  12. Consider using other characters beside bullets.
  13. Increase line spacing to improve readability in body text.

  14. Sans serif typefaces are often less legible than serif typefaces
    All of the serif text faces are appropriate for continuous reading.
    Many sans serif typefaces are as well.
    Consider sans serif fonts such as Gill Sans, Goudy Sans, and Optima for setting text meant for continuous reading.

  15. You can probably set body text to a point size smaller than you think.

    Type size for body text generally ranges from 9 to 14 points. Keep in mind that text set too small can be difficult to read in large quantities. If your documents are intended primarily for on-screen display, as opposed to printed output, 12-point text is a good minimum. Of course, this depends on the typeface and whether or not it has legible bitmaps for small point sizes. Typefaces like Geneva on the Macintosh, and MS Sans in Microsoft Windows, are quite attractive and readable at 9 points (okay, maybe not attractive), but a typeface such as Times Roman will be difficult to read on-screen below 10 points.

    Font Resources