Pima.gov Web Resources

Text and Font Usage

Text Format

All text should be set to Default Font and Size = None. The style sheet will set these for you automatically. All fonts and text size are specified in the pimagov.css style sheet. The style sheet uses the Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif font family throughout the page. Text size is set by the style sheet.

The text format may be set to none, paragraph, the various headers, or preformatted as needed in Dreamweaver's Property Inspector Palette shown below.
For instance, on this page the top page header is heading 1 (h1) , the paragraph header is h2, the sub headers are h3, the text is paragraph, and the navigation text in the left column is set to none.

The letter A in Dreamweaver's Property Inspector Palette is a toggle that will switch from text mode to style sheet mode.

Text Style

The text style can be chosen from the style sheet. You can see the various class styles with their font size and other attributes on the pimagov.css style sheet.

Text Color

Text with navigation functions has these colors specified in the style sheet:

• Link - Brown -#663300

• Visited Link - Light Brown - #996600

• Active Link - Red - #EE0000

• Link - Hover - Blue - #0033FF

Text is set to Black (#000000) and headers to black or Dark Red - (#330000) by the style sheet. You may change text color as needed. Legibility is the priority. Keep a high contrast between text & background.

Acceptable text colors:

• Text and Headers - Black - #000000

• Text and Headers - Dark Red - #330000

• Special Emphasis - Green - #336633

• Special Emphasis - Olive - #666600

• Special Emphasis - Orange - #FF6633

• Special Emphasis - Brown- #663333

• Special Emphasis - Dark Red-#990000

• Special Emphasis - Gray- #666666

Do not use white or light color fonts - white or light text are hard to see and may not print properly. Make sure text color has high contrast with the background color of the page, table, cell, or graphic that it is on. Light text over a black or dark background is discouraged because some users may have images & backgrounds turned off, which makes the white text invisible. Also, white or light text may not show up when printed.

 

Recommendations

Do not use underlined text unless it is a link. Underlined text has become an unwritten standard on the WWW meaning the text has a link. Underlining non-linked text creates an ambiguity for the user, since they don't know whether it is a link or not. You can create emphasis by using bold text, one of the special emphasis colors, italics, or CAPS.