New fonts on csumb.edu

Yesterday afternoon, Web Services made a few changes to the fonts used on csumb.edu. We switched the body text to a sans serif font, changed the header font to a wider sans serif typeface, and adjusted the sizes of all the headers. These changes were done to improve legibility and readability, which will enhance the presentation and clarity of content on our site.

Switching the body text to a sans serif font increases legibility, which is a measure of how easy it is to distinguish one letter from another. Characters in a sans serif typeface don’t have the tails that serif typeface characters have, which adds space between characters making them easier to read.

Example of serif vs sans serif font with circles around the serif tails (source: fonts.com)

Changing the header font to a wider sans serif typeface improves legibility because header characters are no longer compressed, which makes characters difficult to read. We also adjusted the font size of all headers to improve readability, which refers to how easy it is to read words, phrases, blocks of copy such as a book. With the new sizes, each header level will have greater contrast creating a clear hierarchy. 

Before (serif font for body text and condensed sans serif headers)

After (sans serif font for body text and extended sans serif headers)