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The subject of typography comes up in nearly every website I design. The discussion is usually twofold:
- Education - Explaining how typography works on the web.
- Persuasion - Why you shouldn't use 10 different fonts, 6 font sizes and 5 different colors for one post.
Typography on the Web
Using fonts on the web is not as simple as using fonts on your favorite word processor.
It used to be that there were only a handful of fonts that you could use in designing a website. This was because your browser loads the fonts for a website from those installed on your personal computer. So, if someone created a webpage using a font called "Chalkboard" and you didn't happen to have "Chalkboard" installed on your computer, the page you would see would look different from what the designer had intended. For this reason designers could only select from certain "web/browser safe fonts" that were commonly installed across all operating systems. This made things simple...but also a bit boring.
Recently there have been a number of developments that will allow you to use specific fonts on your website, without concern of your visitors seeing something different. Basically these fonts are loaded from the server of a particular service (such as Google Web Fonts) rather from the user's computer. This allows much more flexibility and customization for your website...but with that privilege comes a lot of responsibility.
Appropriate Use of Typography on the Web
Resist the urge to use the crazy fonts, flashy graphics, and varying colors on your website! Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. Yes, you may think it looks cute and grabs the visitors attention...but trust me, 99.9% of your visitors aren't going to appreciate it the way that you do!
Keep it simple
Only use a few fonts on your site. Have a reason for using each.
Use the fancy stuff sparingly
If you are going to use a custom font (i.e. a font from Google Web Fonts), use it for your header or content headings...don't use it across the board. Not only is it a bit overkill, your site may load slower as a result. Every time you are going to deviate from the norm it should be with purpose.
Be consistent
The headers should all use the same font and styling. The body should all be the same font (with styling such as bold, italics, etc. used sparingly). Links within the content of your site should be the same color. You should be consistent in the font sizes that you use for body text, headings, quotes, etc. The readability of your site goes downhill quickly when you start getting creative with your fonts and styling.
Less is almost always more
As tempting as it may be to use all caps, increase the font size, write a caption in "comic sans," use pink highlights or use glittery text...DON'T!! Each little element you add competes for the visitors attention and draws them away from the text.
  PEASE DON'T DO THIS!!!So, take it easy on the fonts! Don't get carried away!
For the possible typography geek or computer nerd that is reading this post...this was not intended to be a deep or technical post. Yes, some things were over-simplified and other thoughts could have been developed much further.
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