Fungible Convictions

When I started this blog several years ago, it coincided with a professional study of print design—which meant I got more interested than the average geek in type-level CSS and options/standards for web typography. It’s to the point where I’ve now volunteered to teach a 2-hour course later this month during MIT’s Independent Activities Period (IAP) on typographic principles for the web.

Typography for the web: Principles and tools
Andrew Whitacre, Communications Manager, CMS/C4FCM
Tue Jan 26, 02-04:00pm, 2-142

Enrollment limited: advance sign up required (see contact below)
Signup by: 25-Jan-2010
Limited to 20 participants.
Single session event

There’s nothing better than good typography to make your website more readable, searchable, and beautiful. This class starts with the first principles of typography and applies them to the web. By the end of the class, you will know 1) how to choose the right font for the job, 2) how to design your text beautifully without sacrificing accessibility for the visually impaired, and 3) what tools are available to expand your skills and make your type-on-the-web life a whole lot easier. This class presumes basic knowledge of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS).
Contact: Andrew Whitacre, Communications Manager, CMS/C4FCM, awhit@MIT.EDU
Sponsor: Comparative Media Studies

When each person registered (it’s up to about a dozen folks now), I ask them to describe what they hope to get from the class and if there’s anything in their work they could especially benefit from learning about. (IAP courses are open to anyone at MIT—students, faculty, staff, anyone.) So I’m going to write up a set of blog posts here thrashing out my thoughts to their responses. One person wants to know about picking the right font for the job, another wants advice on marketing considerations, and everyone wants guidance on CSS.

I think they’ll be surprised to find out how much there is to know about accessibility—everything from proper contrast for older users to fluid widths to accommodate various screen sizes. I’ve budgeted twenty minutes for that section, but I can easily see it running over.

Anyway, overall this should be a blast. The posts coming over the next couple weeks should be interesting as I teach myself what I need to teach on the 26th.