A well-chosen font can simplify difficult technical material into a digestible form, therefore decreasing the workload and improving understanding. On the other hand, a poorly chosen typeface can cause discomfort for the eyes, hide meaning, and perhaps result in critical mistakes. The best font is not a one-size-fits-all fix but rather a strategic option that calls for careful thought of several elements, including the target audience, the goal of the document, and the particular information being expressed.

The article explores the subtle aspects of font selection in technical documentation and investigates the main ideas guiding font choice, common mistakes to avoid, and best practices to guarantee that technical papers are not only useful but also visually attractive and easily navigable. Technical creators can improve their works to unprecedented levels by knowing how fonts affect readability, correctness, and general user experience, therefore promoting clarity, comprehension, and finally, the effective spread of technical knowledge.

How to use fonts as a technical writer

Knowing the basic elements of a font helps one to choose fonts for technical papers with accuracy. Often subtle but powerful, these components greatly help a document to be aesthetically pleasing and generally readable.

Traditional and formal fonts are typified by serifs, like Times New Roman or Georgia, for printed products and long text due to their apparent elegance and simplicity of reading. Sans-serif typefaces, on the other hand, give a cleaner and more modern look even if they lack these artistic strokes. Common sans-serif fonts used extensively in digital documents and screen-based reading because of their clarity and legibility are Helvetica, Arial, and Verdana.

Especially in smaller font sizes, the x-height, meaning that height of lowercase letters excluding ascenders and descenders, plays a crucial part in readability. Greater x-height improves the visual weight of lowercase letters, therefore increasing their clarity. On digital devices, fonts having a higher x-height, Verdana or Calibri, can increase readability.

A font’s apparent strength and visual impact depend on its weight, that is, its stroke thickness. To highlight certain material, establish a visual organization, and direct the reader’s attention, employ diverse weights, regular, bold, and italic. Understanding these basic elements helps technical writers choose fonts that best maximize the readability and general efficacy of their writings.

Things to keep up in mind when choosing fonts for technical documents

A consistent font choice throughout the entire manuscript is most important. When there are too many distinct fonts, it might cause the readers to lose flow and make it harder for them to grasp. The correct distance between letters and words is another significant factor that contributes to the improvement of reading and the reduction of eye strain.

Accuracy is yet another factor that is vital. Selecting a font that can accommodate the required character set is crucial, particularly when the document contains mathematical symbols, code snippets, or characters from a foreign language. It is of the utmost importance to check that the typeface accurately generates symbols, subscripts, and superscripts, which are all considered special characters. 

Focus and clarity can be achieved by choosing the right font. Format headings and subheadings in distinct, easy-to-read fonts to establish a hierarchical structure. People frequently select sans-serif fonts for headlines due to their bold and modern appearance. Fixed-width fonts, such as Courier New or Consolas, are ideal for displaying code snippets and syntax highlighting. This is because they maintain consistent spacing and enhance the readability of the code. It is possible to emphasize specific ideas or keywords by using bold, italics, or underlining. 

It is imperative that technical documents are easily accessible. When it comes to readers who have visual difficulties, following the recommended font sizes is helpful. Larger font sizes are more readily available. The background and text color should contrast enough to make reading easier. Typically, people prefer the combination of dark text on a light backdrop or vice versa. Additionally, the choice of typeface, serif or sans-serif, can influence accessibility. Despite the fact that some studies suggest that serif fonts may be better readable for printed texts, it is possible that sans-serif fonts are more suitable for use on digital devices.

Errors to avoid when writing a technical document

Technical documentation often falls victim to the overuse of fonts. Using several fonts inside one document could visually clutter it and divert the reader from the information. Using a restricted number of fonts for headings, body text, code, and other sections keeps a uniform font palette.

Inconsistent font size is another frequent error. Different font sizes in body text and headings could upset the visual equilibrium and make reading difficult. Keeping constant font sizes guarantees a clean, professional look, particularly inside the same level of heading or text.

Another major error in technical documentation is ignoring branding rules, which can also compromise an organization’s professional reputation. Should your company have certain branding rules, you must follow them exactly in font choice. Fonts that fit the visual identity of the brand support the brand’s image and help preserve consistency.

Technical writers have the ability to generate articles that are not only precise and helpful but also visually beautiful and simple to navigate. Carefully selecting and utilizing fonts accomplishes this. If you follow these criteria, you will be able to guarantee that the technical documents you create are excellent instruments for communication and the transfer of information.
And if you are unsure about the name of a font that is ideal for your technical materials that you discovered online, all you need to do is take a screenshot of the text that was entered using that font and then allow the advanced search algorithms of our website, WhatFontIs.com, to do the rest!

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The U.S. State Department has used Times New Roman as its standard font since February 1 2004.

But now, in 2023, Times New Roman will be changed with another font.

Why the change after almost 19 years of the good and traditional Times New Roman font?

Times New Roman is a serif font, which means it has decorative angular features.

These features have big changes to create accessibility issues to people with certain disabilities that use Optical Character Recognition technology and/or screen readers.

This statement is proven and agreed by most font experts from all over the world.

Knowing this information, Secretary Anthony Blinken directed the Department to use a more accessible font. 

The Bureau of Global Talent Management’s Office of Accessibility and Accommodations recommended Calibri font.

This is the default font in Microsoft products and is the best accessibility font in the industry.

Not all U.S. State Department people love Calibri

“I’m anticipating an internal revolt,” said a second Foreign Service officer.

“A colleague of mine called it sacrilege,” said a Foreign Service officer in Asia.

And another person said: “I don’t mind the decision because I hate serifs, but I don’t love Calibri.”

More on font accessibility

There are many things you can do to improve text accessibility.

Changing the font should be the last move you make, and only if the other things don’t work as well as you wanted.

So you can better align the text, the spacing between lines and the contrast in color between the text and the background are things that will create a massive difference in accessibility.

All of these create a much bigger difference than font type and size says Ian Hosking, a senior research associate at the Engineering Design Center at the University of Cambridge.

He says: “Pick a good default font, go to one-and-a-half line spacing, consider a baseline off-white background with black text, and then guide”

Font personalization

I wrote several articles on this subject and this topic will not get old too soon.

People should be able to personalize the fonts.

No matter what devices we use, we should be able to change fonts, picking the right ones for us.

We should also be able to use larger or smaller font sizes, to underline text, and arrange the text.

Many devices already let us do all these things, but there are also lots of others that are rigid.

For example, many TVs don’t let us make too many font changes.

While HBO app is very font friendly and lets the user do plenty of changes.

So yes, Times New Roman Is “Old” For The U.S. State Department

 “Calibri has been the default font for all things Microsoft since 2007, when it stepped in to replace Times New Roman across Microsoft Office,” the company said in a memo. “It has served us all well, but we believe it’s time to evolve.”

Exactly as Microsoft dropped Times New Roman font for Calibri, now the U.S. State Department makes the exact same move.

The world has to become a better place for people with disabilities, and this trend will sure continue in the following years in the font industry.

Exactly as the Chinese government asked website owners to use larger fonts so the senior people can better read text, and many other companies and governments start to pay attention to font accessibility, we will all include it in our website designs, landing pages designs, and even ads.

Improving fonts for senior people and for people with certain disabilities is a need for all of us and we should quickly implement it.

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There are hundreds of thousands of fonts in the world but the English and Latin-based languages typically use mostly just three: Times New Roman, Arial, and Helvetica.

We can find these 3 fonts everywhere: on the books we read, on instruction manuals, on all kind of advertisements, on newspapers, and journals. These 3 options were the favorite fonts for decades, being the favorite choice of companies, industries, and computer operating systems.

Let’s find out why and how they became the most popular fonts in the world.

Serif vs Sans Serif Fonts

To fully understand why these 3 fonts are the most popular in the world, we need first to discuss a bit about serif and sans serif fonts.

Serif fonts use embellishments and flourishes in their characters, making them unique, special, and beautiful.  These fonts are on the market since the 18^th century.

Serif fonts were created for the printing press and because they are so old, they are considered more traditional fonts.

Sans (sans means without) serif fonts are fonts that use clean and simple lines. Your iPhone uses Sans serif fonts.

In the below picture, you can easily spot the differences.

Now let’s find out a brief history of these 3 fonts. It will help us respond to the article question.

More info about Times Roman, Arial, and Helvetica

This information is needed to find out why these 3 fonts are the most popular in the world.

Times New Roman

Times New Roman was created in 1932 by type designer Stanley Morison and Victor Lardent. They created the font at the request of the newspaper The Times.

Since the newspaper wanted to rebrand itself, a new font was needed. 

This font had to be highly efficient for the newspaper, meaning that it had to maximize the number of words that could fit in a line and on a page.

The Times had just 1 year exclusivity for Times New Roman and a few years later, the font was started to be used also by American publishers and companies from all over the world.

Helvetica

Swiss typeface designer Max Miedinger together with Eduard Hoffmann designed Helvetica in 1957.

It was a commission for the Swiss Haas type foundry.

Max Miedinger designed the font to revitalize the company’s sans serif offerings with a much more modern design.

Arial

Robin Nicholas and Patricia Saunders created Arial in 1982 for Monotype Corporation, a popular company specialized in typefaces.

The font was designed for laser printing and personal computers (PCs).

It was among the first of its kind.

In summary, why are Times New Roman, Arial, and Helvetica the most popular fonts in the world?

Now comes the super interesting part.

Microsoft and Apple made Times New Roman, Arial, and Helvetica the most popular in the world.

These 2 companies made a cross-license agreement for font technology back in 1989. The mission of the agreement was to standardize fonts and printer software across the two operating systems. Their names were True Type and TrueImage.

Microsoft licensed their fonts from Monotype, and Apple from Linotype.

As a result, Microsoft core fonts were Times New Roman, Arial, and Courier New, while Apple’s core fonts were Times Roman, Helvetica, and Courier.

Later, some changes took place, but we discuss about this later.

Why did both companies picked Times New Roman?

In essence, Microsoft and Apple picked Times New Roman because most documents were printed and Times New Roman was widely available and designed for print.

Their decision launched Times New Roman in the sky, making the font one of the most popular in the world.

Arial journey

Arial became super popular because Microsoft selected it as a core font for its operating system.

In a moment, it was the most accessible sans serif font available the most people with personal computers.

Generally speaking, Helvetica was a superior sans serif font for many but its licensing fee was too expensive for Microsoft strategy.

Arial was 17 years the default Windows default font for PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook, this is how it became the favorite choice of people from all over the world.

Helvetica’s “road to happiness”

Helvetica’s road was very different. Its creation timing was perfect, in post-war.

Back then, modernism influenced arts, architecture, and literature. The media world needed a versatile typeface that was easy to read and a font that could adapt to any need.

In plus, Apple made Helvetica its default font.

At this instant, Helvetica is the world’s most popular font. It is everywhere we look, no matter if we like it or not.

The world changes

Times New Roman, Arial, and Helvetica were the leading fonts for several decades.

But the world changes.

And eventually also the fonts we use daily.

As a result of these changes, Microsoft Word default fonts were changed from Times New Roman and Arial, to Calibri.

And books are no longer printed in Times New Roman.

Because of that, Times New Roman lost huge from its popularity.

At the present time, my guess is that Helvetica will remain the world’s most popular font for at least 10 years from now.

And as long as tons of new fonts are launched each year, we will for sure see some new winners.

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