Typography
Apply Practical Typography-inspired rules to make text more readable and professional across print docs and web pages.
Read references/practical-typography-checklist.md before making recommendations. Use it as the source of truth for numeric targets and audit checks.
Workflow
- Determine Medium And Constraints
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Identify medium: print, web, or mixed.
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Capture hard constraints: mandated font, page count, brand system, accessibility requirements, language support.
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If constraints conflict with ideal typography, prioritize constraints and document tradeoffs.
- Set Body Text First
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Choose font, point size, line spacing, and line length before tuning headings.
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Start with targets from references/practical-typography-checklist.md :
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Print: 10-12 pt body text.
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Web: 15-25 px equivalent body text.
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Line spacing: 120-145% of body size.
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Line length: 45-90 characters including spaces.
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Adjust by eye for the specific typeface because equal point sizes do not look equally large across fonts.
- Audit Style Mechanics
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Replace straight quotes with curly quotes where appropriate.
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Enforce one space between sentences and avoid repeated whitespace.
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Avoid underline except links.
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Use bold or italic sparingly; avoid combining both unless required.
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Use dashes, ellipses, apostrophes, and inch/foot marks correctly.
- Tune Hierarchy And Paragraph Flow
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Use a restrained heading scale; avoid oversized display jumps.
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Use either first-line indents or paragraph spacing for body flow, not both.
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Use centered text and all-caps only for short, intentional fragments.
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For justified text, require hyphenation.
- Deliver Actionable Output
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Provide one of:
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Typography audit (issues, severity, and fixes)
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Direct CSS/style-token rewrite
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Document-formatting change list (Word/Pages/Docs steps)
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Include before/after values for every numeric change and one sentence of rationale per change.
Output Format
Return output in this order:
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Context summary (medium and constraints).
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Findings table with Issue , Current , Target , Reason .
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Patch plan or direct edits.
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Residual risks and tradeoffs.
Guardrails
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Preserve voice and semantics; modify form, not meaning.
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Prefer minimal, high-leverage changes before broad redesign.
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Do not invent font availability; verify installed or licensed fonts before naming specific families.
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If a strict design system exists, adapt these rules to that system instead of overriding it.
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If accessibility conflicts arise, prioritize legibility and stated accessibility requirements.