The beauty of content management systems (CMS) is that the website owner can make changes on their own. But what happens when a client feels the lure of a content management system to change more than the content? Snooty web designers often swap stories about the disasters created by clients when taking on this branding task through CMS.
Why is using all the bells and whistles so dangerous? Changing how your website looks, changes how it is perceived by the user. Seth Godin, author and marketing guru blogs, “If you send me a flyer with dated, cheesy or overused type, it’s like showing up in a leisure suit for a first date. If your website looks like Geocities or some scammy info marketer, I won’t even stay long enough to read it.” (Type Tells A Story )
The transformation from sophisticated business website to something that says “low-brow” or “do-it-yourself” can happen quickly when a client changes fonts in a content management system. You can avoid looking like a light-weight or out-of-date online by following these suggestions from designer, Vanessa Wood.
- Follow Professional Advice: If you’re using a professional designer it should be assumed you’ve vetted the designer and that they are versed in fonts, especially which fonts convey a business image and which don’t.
- Ask for Guidance. Your designer can control fonts and colors within a content management system. Have them recommend and set up fonts and font colors to be used in your blog or website content.
- Call Off the Circus. Too many font styles and too many colors can confuse or cheapen the appearance of a website, making an otherwise stylish site look “clowny”. If your designer has set up font styles be careful when choose additional fonts and new colors from the content management system.
- Avoid Font Blindness. Assume that some of the visitors to your website may have minor vision impairment. Steer away from too small fonts. Opt out of fonts on flashy colored backgrounds or ornately patterned backgrounds.
- Stick with the Tried and True. Sans serif fonts are easier to read online, black fonts on white backgrounds are easier to read and keep a clean design, not too small and not too large fonts imitate printed documents and are easier to read. Choose Arial, Helvetica, and Verdana rather than Comic Sans or more casual fonts.
The Design to Spec solution. You can count on Design to Spec to create or update a website that will look good all the time, even when you edit it yourself!
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