Go big (with serifs) or go home

I still see many websites where the main content is in a tiny sans serif font. Why do they go out of their way to make their words hard to read? I suspect it is due to outdated ideas from ye olde web. There was a time when people running websites felt compelled to get as much as possible “above the fold”, so a smaller font would help you get more words at the top of the page. Also, they believed that a sans serif font was better for computer screens because the serifs — those tails on the tops and bottom of letters — would look fuzzy on low resolution monitors. Those are things you no longer have to worry about. These days, your visitors are so used to scrolling that it is often the first thing they do. They quickly scan the entire page, top to bottom, to make sure it’s worth their while. There are a gazillion other things on the internet that could be more interesting. Your readers also have much better computer screens these days. Resolutions are so good that they sometimes go…