Typography Thumb Rules
Write better than 90% content on Internet
Basic rules
- Make Body Text look better first.
- In print, comfortable point size for body text is 10–12 point.
On the web, 15–25 pixels. - Line spacing should be 120–145% of the point size.
- Line length should be an average of 45–90 characters per line.
- NEVER choose Times New Roman or Arial.
Detailed Rules
COMPOSITION
Quotation marks (‘ “)
1. Don’t use for emphasis; use bold or italic.
2. Always use curly quotes.
Space between sentences ( )
3. Put exactly one space between sentences.
Question marks (?) and Exclamation points (!)
4. Less ! and more ?.
5. Never use more than one ! in a row.
Semicolons (;), Comma (,) and Colons (:)
6. Use ; instead of a conjunction to combine two sentences.
7. Use ; to separate list of elements with internal commas.
8. Use , to connect a subordinate clause to a sentence.
9. Use , before the conjunction in a sentence.
10. Use : to connect the introduction of an idea and its completion.
Paragraph/Pilcrow (¶) and Section marks (§)
11. Use ¶ when citing documents with sequentially numbered paragraphs.
12. Use § when citing documents with numbered or lettered sections.
13. Follow by a non-breaking space.
14. If at the start of a sentence, don’t use the mark — spell out the whole word.
15. In a reference to multiple paragraphs or sections, double the mark (¶¶ or §§).
Parentheses (()), Brackets ([]), and Braces ({})
16. Use () for separating citations or other asides from the body text.
17. Use [] to show changes within quoted material.
18. {} are not typically used except in technical and mathematical writing.
19. They do not adopt the formatting of the surrounded material.
Hyphens (-), en dash (–) and em dash ( — )
20. Use — at the end of a line when a word breaks onto the next line.
21. Some multipart words are spelled with a -.
22. Do not use prefix with -.
23. Use — in phrasal adjectives to ensure clarity.
24. Use — to indicate a range of values.
25. Use — to denote a connection or contrast between pairs of words.
26. The — is used to make a break between parts of a sentence.
27. Don’t use a slash ( / ) where an en dash is correct.
Trademark (®) & Copyright symbols (©)
28. No space is needed between the text and ®.
29. Use a nonbreaking space between the © and the year.
30. Copyright © 2020 is redundant. Word or symbol — not both.
Ampersands (&)
31. Correct when they’re part of a proper name.
32. Otherwise, the more formal the document, the less they should be used.
Ellipses (…)
33. Use the … character, not three dots.
34. Use a nonbreaking space on text side.
Signature lines (________)
35. Use underscores to draw lines.
Apostrophes
36. Apostrophes always point downward.
Foot and Inch marks
37. Use straight quotes for these marks.
38. Use a nonbreaking space in the middle.
Carriage returns
39. Only for a new paragraph.
40. Use only one carriage return at a time.
41. For vertical space after a paragraph, use space between paragraphs.
Math Symbols
42. Use real symbols, not alphabetic characters.
FORMATTING
Underlining
43. In print, don’t underline.
44. In web avoid underline, use bold or italic or caps instead.
Bold or Italic
45. They are mutually exclusive.
46. Use sparingly.
47. Tools for emphasis. Do not emphasize everything.
48. For sans serif font, skip italic and use bold for emphasis.
49. Don’t use Black or Ultra for body texts.
ALL CAPS
50. Use sparingly.
51. Caps are harder to read than normal lowercase text.
Monospaced Fonts
52. Do not use monospaced fonts for body text. Use proportional fonts.
53. Use monospaced fonts for numerals and software code
Point Size
54. In print, for body text is 10–12 point.
55. On the web, the optimal size is 15–25 pixels.
56. Different fonts have different sizes at same point size. Judge.
57. Okay to emphasize text with a larger point size, but use small increment.
Headings
58. If full sentences, then they’re too long for caps.
59. Limit to three levels of headings. Two is better.
60. Don’t underline.
61. Avoid center.
62. Emphasize by putting space above and below.
63. Prefer bold, not italic.
64. Use two levels of indenting, even if more than two levels.
65. Okay to make the point size bigger, but just a little.
66. No hyphenation in headings
Letterspacing
67. No need for lowercase letters.
68. Add 5–12% extra letterspacing to text in all caps or small caps.
Kerning
69. Always use kerning.
Color
70. In print use black.
71. In web use dark gray.
Figures/Numerals
72. Do not use oldstyle figures.
73. In body text, prefer proportional figures.
74. In vertically aligned columns or grids, prefer tabular figures.
Ordinals
75. Avoid superscripted ordinals.
Web & Email addresses
76. Prefer an url-shortening service.
Hierarchical Headings
77. Consider tiered numbers
Mixing Fonts
78. Never a requirement — it’s an option.
79. Don’t use more than 2 fonts.
80. Mix any two fonts that are identifiably different.
81. Give consistent role to each font.
LAYOUT
Centered Text
82. Avoid for big text blocks.
83. Acceptable when used for short phrases or titles.
Justified Text
84. With justified text, turn on hyphenation.
First-line indents
85. Between one and four times the point size.
86. Use either first-line indent or space between paragraphs.
Line Spacing
87. 120–145% of the point size.
Line Length
88. 45–90 characters or 2–3 alphabets.
Bulleted and Numbered lists
89. Don’t type them manually.
Thanks to Matthew Butterick’s ‘Practical Typography’.
Check out his website for in-depth understanding of these rules.
https://practicaltypography.com/
