Typography is a funny thing. Most of us don’t notice it and very few of know what it is. When it’s bad typography we have a funny feeling that something isn’t right, but we can’t quite put our finger on it. Typography, whether we like it or not, is with us almost every day and everywhere we go. If you’re reading this than you are experiencing some form of typography.

What most people don’t realize is that typography is the subtle art that gives grace to design. It’s that essential ingredient that communicates the intent of the writer by the placement of the text. Web designers and bloggers have unconsciously contributed to bad typography for years, without many resources to implement good print design practices.

Sure designers have used JPGs and proprietary software such as Flash to design at a higher level of quality, but it’s often come at the cost of accessibility and download speed. These days designers have more options with the introduction of the @font-face rule. This allows designers to pick from any font and embed it into the website.

This practice has opened up a whole other can of worms. Using the @font-face rule exposes a font to being downloaded illegally, thus creating an illegal distribution of copyrighted materials. Many free fonts are available that allow for this kind of access. Some high end font foundries will “host” the font and protect it from being downloaded illegally. The options for the designer are now limitless, but with bad practices being in place for so long is it possible for good typography to ever proliferate the web?

There was a time when the capacity of expression within the internet medium dictated the creativity that was allowed to propagate. The complexity of programing html to reflect advertising and graphic design aesthetics proved to be too big of a chore for most html programmers. Most users simply wanted their content, to read the news and forward a funny picture. The dynamics have quickly shifted to a more personal experience aimed at integrating the lives of the user to their ever changing content needs. Our lives have become saturated with the constant pulse of new content. With that content comes advertising and the need to become aesthetically pleasing. Gone are the days of florescent green backgrounds with stark black type. Today’s internet is a much better user experience with websites designed in the tradition of print design. No longer must a designer be restricted by endlessly embedded tables, he is free to use css coding language to create manageable designs that facilitate the ongoing needs of content providers. They say content is king, but in all reality we know our focus is easily manipulated with “eye-candy”. So it’s no surprise that art directing on the web has become so important in recent years. Not all websites needs to be flashy and eye catching to be considered “high art”. Some websites can manipulate subtle elements of design to expertly express art direction. Either way designers now have the choice to limit their pallet or go full tilt with lush and creative designs, and that is a good thing.

I’ve just started taking my second webdesign class and this blog is my first assignment. I was supposed to mention how I chose www.strawmancomics.com for my personal website domain. I also have www.dimlightgraphics.com, which is the name of my graphic design website. I chose www.strawmancomics.com because when I was promoting my comic book “Straw Man” I need a website to promote the character. strawman.com was taken and I didn’t like the sounds of “strawmancomic.com” as much. I could have gone with www.dimlightcomics.com but I wanted something that was more versatile, using the dimlight name. www.davidbranstetter.com is out of the question because of the difficulty of spelling.

davidbran.com is still available and may be worth considering.

When it comes to hosting I like to have an account that’s affordable, hosts more than one site, and has automatic install features. Godaddy seems to fit all these demands. Throw in top notch customer support and you’ve got a winner.

I was using a lot of free server spaces for a while and decided that I needed to get serious about building a website. I felt that I needed a website without pop up ads. It needed to be fast and I didn’t want to join a message board to get it. A friend of mine suggested godaddy and was pleased with the service.