Please note:
BODY TEXT*
is the most common
element of a document.
Therefore, how the body
text looks will have the
most noticeable effect
on the appearance
of the document.
Consequently,
you should
set up the
body text
FIRST.
Start with
font, point size,
line spacing, and
line length, because
those four decisions will
largely determine how
the body text will
look. OK?
Though I’ll stop short of calling it a rule, I strongly recommend using a serif font—not a sans serif font—for body text in print. Most books, newspapers, and magazines use serif fonts for body text. It’s the traditional choice and still the best choice.
On the web, body text can be in a sans serif or serif font. Sans serifs were once preferred for screen text because they rendered better on the lower-resolution screens of the past. (That’s why most graphical user interfaces are built around sans serif fonts). But on today’s screens, serif fonts look equally good.