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Your Guide to Web Usability.
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Overview

The right choice of serif or sans-serif fonts can enhance readability and clarity of a document. Serif fonts tend to ease reading of large blocks of text, whereas sans-serif fonts are more prominent and readable as headlines and emphasis text.

Serif

Serif fonts take their name from the use of serifs, small extensions that appear at corners and the ends of the lines that make up each character. Here are some quick tips regarding serif fonts:

• Serif fonts are most suited to large blocks of text. The serifs ease reading by helping a user’s eye to move horizontally from character to character. The result is that lines of text stick together visually, easing line tracking, and reducing a reader’s tendency to lose his/her place in a block of text.
  
  
• Serif fonts are less suited to applications where clarity is important, usually headlines or situations where text appears over a background. Serifs contribute to visual business and clutter. This is particularly important when an image or pattern appears behind text. Serifs will tend to visually mix with details in the background, making the font appear less distinct and more difficult to read.
  
  
• For electronic media, serif fonts should be avoided for small text sizes. Computer screens do not have the resolution to cleanly render serifs bellow 7-8 point font size. The result is badly rendered text that can be very difficult to read.

San-Serif

Sans-serif fonts tend to have clean, simple lines, making them most readable in situations where clarity or emphasis is most important. The clean simple character shapes help sans-serif fonts stand out more clearly than serif fonts. This is particularly true when the clarity of the text is being reduced by use of styling (color, drop shadow, bold/italics, etc) or where it is being placed over a background image or pattern.

Serif vs. Sans-Serif on Computer Screens

The low resolution of computer screens (compared to print) means that serif fonts render badly at small sizes (usually below 7-8 points). Sans-serif fonts render more cleanly at these resolutions since they have less fine detail, and should be used for any small text that is meant to be read on a computer screen, even for large blocks of text.