Inauguration Day didn’t simply usher in the 44th President heralded globally as hope for an Extreme Makeover: USA Edition. Exciting for web heads, the first change this President made, nearly on the dot during the botched oath was The White House official website.  Keep in mind, this is the president who talked about social networking on the campaign trail, embraced Twitter, now posts his weekly address via YouTube, and fought fiercely for his BlackBerry over the last few days.  Needless to stay, we web-heads are eager to hear his choice of national CTO and are thankful for the ways in which President Obama has and continues to embrace the Internet for a more transparent government and a more united America.

The first wired President clearly wasn’t just poking people on Facebook in the days before his Inauguration.  While Change.gov functioned as the transition hub, he also went to work (or should we say put others to work) on a new version of Whitehouse.gov that would be ready for January 20th’s festivities.  In past days, design, usability, social media, blogging, and video weren’t given attention, even in the land of the Internet that Al Gore invented.  Former President George Bush’s site design reflected his presidency in many ways, if you know what I mean.  President Obama appears to have carried over successful design and usability parameters as well as social media integration strategy from his previous sites, BarackObama.com and Change.gov.  Not to mention the online Briefing Room.  What a great concept in government, to use the web in this way!

So while President Obama’s administration is blogging about the year of the ox and his stance towards the Muslim world to try and heal the wounds of yesteryear, I recommend you visit the new WhiteHouse.gov site for yourself, grab his RSS feed, and start watching his weekly addresses on YouTube.  If government is going to be more transparent via the web, it’s up to all of us to keep tabs on it!

The Old Version of WhiteHouse.gov, courtesy George W. Bush:

:: written by @epsilonc ::

However, good content, like the emperor who needed to put some clothes on, should always strive to look first rate.

Enter typography, whose sole aim is to dress words up so that they look good. Its noble aspirations are simple: to make the reading experience easier, by relegating itself so far into the background that it’s never noticed.

Regardless of how tricky typography on the web can be, it is the responsibility of everyone on a design project (both team members and stakeholders) to bother about a website’s type. After all, if you want me to take the time to read your marketing pitch, or your smashing novel, why should it also be hard for me to read it?

If we’re on the same page so far, then here are some guiding principles on selecting type:

1. Read it- Just because you’re writing a masterpiece on Antiqua doesn’t mean you should write it using Antiqua. Reading the material (to understand it) will provide a better understanding of the copy’s context, and the user’s needs. This in turn translates into subtle changes to the over all look and feel of the website.

2. Know your audience- Blaktur is not the way to go on a pre-school program’s website, so it’s important that you know who your audience will be.

3. What will it look like?- Convention over configuration is not always a bad thing so keep in mind that there are limitations on the available font choices. Here’s another good article on the topic.

4. It’s not the end of the world- At the end of the day, your decision is subjective since there is no “end all” formula. As long as you diligently address the above, the whole time remembering that “it takes five hundred small details to make one favorable impression”, you should be fine.

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