Select a legible font that is easy to distinguish from the background. Fonts are classified by "families," such as cursive, sans serif or mono-space. Select one of the plain font families, such as Times New Roman, Arial or Verdana, which are the most legible type faces. Try one that is not bold or light, but gives ample height and space for lower case letters and that is characterized by shapes that are obvious to decipher. Choose a serif font, such as Georgia or Book Antigua, whose letters have attached strokes, if you want to mimic traditional printed text. Serif fonts differentiate between the capital "I" and the lower case "l," for example. Or opt for a sans-serif font that has no flourishes, such as Arial, Tahoma or Verdana.
Select a font color that contrasts with the background. Black print on white background is the most common and gives a page higher readability. Select black type for very light background colors, but realize that readability decreases as font color and background become less contrasted. For instance, blue text will not appear prominently on a black background.
Select a font size that can accommodate between 10 and 15 words on each line of a printed page. A small font is difficult to read, and characters that are too large can break the flow of the sentences, causing the reader to have to drop to the next line too frequently to create good readability.
Justify your type to add readability to the page, if using a standard 8.5-by-11-inch sheet of paper or Word document. This gives the format a more polished look and relieves the potential confusion of the reader.
Avoid use of lengthy capitalization or blinking text. Both are difficult to focus on and lessen readability.