A very simple guide for bloggers who don't know anything about typography

Are you a blogger or someone who writes on the internet that doesn’t know anything about the art of using text or styling? If so, read on; you’ll won’t learn how to style your blog / page but learn how simple rules are important making your text more readable.

You don’t need to know what exactly typography is. But you have to know some simple rules to make your writings more readable.

First of all, there is a flow in every written content. A title, -maybe- a summary, paragraphs, sub-titles, paragraphs again and -maybe- foot-notes. That flow makes readers easily follow your article.

• Title summarizes your article,
• Sub-titles make readers understand what paragraphs related with,
• Paragraphs make readers follow lines easily. 

And then, there are some simple formats like bold, italic, underline, and lists.

Most people think typography is about fonts.
Most designers think typography is about fonts.
Typography is more than that,
it’s expressing language through type.
Placement, composition, typechoice.
- Mark Boulton

• Bold words means something important; emphasis,
• Italics are used for show something that less important than bold ones, some in sentence titles, introductions or defining terms and sometimes in-line quotes,
• In the old days, underline was used to emphasise text but in the Internet age, underlined texts mean that words are clickable. So do not use underline style unless you are linking a text,
• And of course lists for lists.

Here are some tips for non-technical you

• No matter what you are using (WordPress, Blogger, Drupal) you are using a template. And your template’s designer has to be designed all styles for you. You don’t have to create your own. So do not realign your texts, change text colors or reinvent new font sizes.
• Try to use your CMS’s WYSIWYG editor simply. But not all of its features. Just use B, I, Lists, Format (paragraph, headings, etc.).
• Use each feature correctly.
• Try not to write long paragraphs. Cut your paragraphs after 3-4 sentences.
• A paragraph means enough spaces between two different group of sentences. A line break is totally different than paragraph. Using line breaks as paragraphs will makes it harder for them to concentrate on text.
• If you are writing a long article, remember to define its parts by sub titles. Use Heading 2 & below for your sub titles.
• Never use CAPS for emphasis, use bold instead.

These are some simple rules to prevent mistakes like I see all the time on some non-technical blogs. And I hope that this article will help you & others.