Fonts can make or break a legal website’s usability. Are your readers squinting at tiny text or struggling with awkward layouts?
Poor font choices can undermine your credibility and drive potential clients away.
Below, we cover fundamental guidelines on how you can use fonts effectively on your website, including tips on text size, line width and justification.
Here’s how to boost readability, accessibility and engagement on your law firm website by following font guidelines.
For the moment, forget Garamond vs. Times New Roman
The best font for law firm websites is a font that is readable.
Of course, the font you choose for your brand is a strategic choice. It’s tied to your firm’s identity and the image you wish to project.
That’s why, instead of branding, this article will focus on how you can use fonts effectively on your legal website.
- Font size: Are your text sizes large enough for clarity but not overwhelming?
- Line width: Does your text layout guide readers smoothly from line to line?
- Text alignment: Are you using alignment that maximizes readability?
- Font consistency: Are your fonts streamlined and cohesive, or cluttered and distracting?
Smart font choices ensure that your online visitors enjoy a professional, user-friendly experience that reflects well on your practice. Readability, clarity and organization directly impact how your audience engages with your content.
Your brand is your brand. The font you choose for your brand? That’s a separate conversation.
Text size guidelines for main content
One of the fastest ways to frustrate your readers is text that’s too small.
Your main content should have a minimum font size of 16px to 18px.
16px is considered the minimum standard for web accessibility.
18px is better if your audience skews older or if you’re catering to readers on mobile devices.
Larger text not only improves legibility but also helps establish a more accessible and inclusive design.
Remember to test your font sizes on different devices. Text that appears legible on a desktop may appear too small on a smartphone. Engaging your visitors requires good content and legible text sizes across all devices.
Line width matters as much as text size for legibility
Font size isn’t the only factor in readability—line width plays a crucial role in legibility.
The ideal line measure is between 50 to 75 characters per line, including spaces. Lines wider than 75 characters can feel overwhelming, while lines narrower than 50 characters can make content feel cramped.
When lines of text are too long, readers may struggle to scan and follow from the end of one line to the beginning of the next. If a person loses their place or gets frustrated, they could click away. This is especially important with long-form content.
Notice how the line width fits into your website’s design grid. Generous margins and whitespace can help balance the line measure to improve legibility. Work with a website designer or choose a template site that already has built-in appropriate line widths.
Do not fully justify text on the web
We understand it’s tempting to fully justify text. It keeps the edges clean and uniform.
Full justification creates uneven spacing between words that can make text hard to read.
Instead, we recommend using left-aligned text, which maintains consistent spacing and allows the reader’s eye to flow naturally. Reducing cognitive overload means people will take more action on your site.
Legibility matters for all readers, but full justification can be especially problematic for people with dyslexia or visual impairments. In fact, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) explicitly recommend avoiding full justification for accessibility reasons.
Don’t let your obsession with aesthetics undermine your commitment to accessibility. Prioritizing legibility over style shows your firm’s commitment to creating a welcoming experience for all users, including disabled users.
Limit yourself to 2 fonts
Stick to a maximum of two fonts: one for headlines and one for body text.
Trust us on this one. Using too many fonts will make your website look chaotic and unprofessional. Luckily, you don’t need to pay for design testing to benefit from this principle.
The data:
- Serif vs. san serif: For logos, about 65% of law firms use serif in their logos and 35% use san serif. For headings, the stats are reversed. More law firms use san serif headings vs. serif. However, body text is almost entirely san serif (the ultimate choice for legibility).
- Font choices: The top 2 font choices among legal websites were Open Sans and Roboto, according to one study of nearly 43,000 websites.
Look for two fonts that complement each other and align with your brand’s tone. For instance, you could pair an easy-to-read serif font for headings with a clean, modern sans-serif font for body content. This law firm site uses our Dots layout and follows the 2-font rule—see how good it looks?
There are two main benefits to the 2-font rule: visual consistency and faster load speed.
Each font requires additional files to be downloaded, which means that excessive font use can slow down your site. Load speed is a key factor for user experience, so it’s going to impact Google’s opinion of your site as well as your prospect’s opinion.
Review and next steps
We’re a team of designers and developers who understand how important it is to balance industry guidelines with innovation. Font size is about aesthetics as well as accessibility, for instance. You can be creative while also meeting the needs of your online visitors.
If you are a law firm that wants to make an impact online, reach out for a consultation. We build and customize websites, and we’d love to answer your questions.
