Fonts and appearance
Various data about the appearance of each page was recorded. This included information about the body font such as its size, face and colour as well as the page's predominant background and foreground colours. Where the home page didn't contain any normal 'body' text, I went into the site and picked the most consistently used typeface and noted its appearance. Many different font sizes were used so I've restricted the bar chart to the top ten. The question of whether or not fonts and colours could be customised referred to the existence of any kind of widget or set of buttons for performing this action. It didn't stretch to being able to alter the style sheet from Firefox's menu, for example, and nor did it cover alteration of the site's appearance from an accessibility page.
| Frequency | Percent | Valid Percent | Cumulative Percent | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valid | Black | 71 | 55.5 | 55.9 | 55.9 |
| Blue | 12 | 9.4 | 9.4 | 65.4 | |
| Brown | 2 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 66.9 | |
| Grey | 35 | 27.3 | 27.6 | 94.5 | |
| Green | 2 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 96.1 | |
| White | 5 | 3.9 | 3.9 | 100.0 | |
| Total | 127 | 99.2 | 100.0 | ||
| Missing | 99 | 1 | .8 | ||
| Total | 128 | 100.0 | |||
Black was the most common choice for font colour but grey was also popular, particularly #333333.
| Frequency | Percent | Valid Percent | Cumulative Percent | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valid | 0.65em | 1 | .8 | .8 | .8 |
| 0.75em | 4 | 3.1 | 3.1 | 3.9 | |
| 0.7em | 8 | 6.3 | 6.3 | 10.2 | |
| 0.85em | 2 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 11.8 | |
| 0.8em | 12 | 9.4 | 9.4 | 21.3 | |
| 0.9em | 1 | .8 | .8 | 22.0 | |
| 100% | 1 | .8 | .8 | 22.8 | |
| 10pt | 4 | 3.1 | 3.1 | 26.0 | |
| 10px | 3 | 2.3 | 2.4 | 28.3 | |
| 11px | 4 | 3.1 | 3.1 | 31.5 | |
| 1.25 * xx-small | 1 | .8 | .8 | 32.3 | |
| 12px | 11 | 8.6 | 8.7 | 40.9 | |
| 1.2 * x-small | 1 | .8 | .8 | 41.7 | |
| 13px | 2 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 43.3 | |
| 2 (using font tag) | 1 | .8 | .8 | 44.1 | |
| 63% | 1 | .8 | .8 | 44.9 | |
| 64% | 1 | .8 | .8 | 45.7 | |
| 67% | 1 | .8 | .8 | 46.5 | |
| 68% | 3 | 2.3 | 2.4 | 48.8 | |
| 69% | 1 | .8 | .8 | 49.6 | |
| 70% | 8 | 6.3 | 6.3 | 55.9 | |
| 70.5% | 1 | .8 | .8 | 56.7 | |
| 71.25% | 2 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 58.3 | |
| 72% | 1 | .8 | .8 | 59.1 | |
| 75% | 6 | 4.7 | 4.7 | 63.8 | |
| 76% | 1 | .8 | .8 | 64.6 | |
| 80% | 11 | 8.6 | 8.7 | 73.2 | |
| 82% | 1 | .8 | .8 | 74.0 | |
| 82.5% | 1 | .8 | .8 | 74.8 | |
| 87% | 1 | .8 | .8 | 75.6 | |
| 8pt | 3 | 2.3 | 2.4 | 78.0 | |
| 90% | 2 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 79.5 | |
| 93% | 1 | .8 | .8 | 80.3 | |
| 94% | 1 | .8 | .8 | 81.1 | |
| 9pt | 1 | .8 | .8 | 81.9 | |
| -1 (using font tag) | 2 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 83.5 | |
| Small | 14 | 10.9 | 11.0 | 94.5 | |
| Undefined | 3 | 2.3 | 2.4 | 96.9 | |
| x-small | 3 | 2.3 | 2.4 | 99.2 | |
| xx-small | 1 | .8 | .8 | 100.0 | |
| Total | 127 | 99.2 | 100.0 | ||
| Missing | 99 | 1 | .8 | ||
| Total | 128 | 100.0 | |||
The different choices of font size was extremely wide and it's interesting to note that some of the most popular choices were actually absolute sizes, rather than relative ones. Sizes given in ems were rounded to the nearest half value. Also, a small number of pages still used the font tag!
| Frequency | Percent | Valid Percent | Cumulative Percent | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valid | Arial | 60 | 46.9 | 47.2 | 47.2 |
| Helvetica | 2 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 48.8 | |
| Lucida Grande | 2 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 50.4 | |
| Trebuchet MS | 1 | .8 | .8 | 51.2 | |
| Undefined | 1 | .8 | .8 | 52.0 | |
| Verdana | 61 | 47.7 | 48.0 | 100.0 | |
| Total | 127 | 99.2 | 100.0 | ||
| Missing | 99 | 1 | .8 | ||
| Total | 128 | 100.0 | |||
There was a fairly even split between Arial and Verdana for the primary font face.
| Frequency | Percent | Valid Percent | Cumulative Percent | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valid | Black | 1 | .8 | .8 | .8 |
| Beige | 1 | .8 | .8 | 1.6 | |
| Blue | 7 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 7.0 | |
| Cream/off white | 1 | .8 | .8 | 7.8 | |
| Grey | 3 | 2.3 | 2.3 | 10.2 | |
| Purple | 1 | .8 | .8 | 10.9 | |
| White | 114 | 89.1 | 89.1 | 100.0 | |
| Total | 128 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
White was the overwhelmingly favourite background colour, although this was the site background, rather than text background.
| Frequency | Percent | Valid Percent | Cumulative Percent | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valid | Black | 3 | 2.3 | 2.3 | 2.3 |
| Beige | 1 | .8 | .8 | 3.1 | |
| Blue | 73 | 57.0 | 57.0 | 60.2 | |
| Cyan | 2 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 61.7 | |
| Green | 8 | 6.3 | 6.3 | 68.0 | |
| Grey | 5 | 3.9 | 3.9 | 71.9 | |
| Not applicable/no dominant foreground colour | 5 | 3.9 | 3.9 | 75.8 | |
| Orange | 2 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 77.3 | |
| Purple | 7 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 82.8 | |
| Red | 18 | 14.1 | 14.1 | 96.9 | |
| White | 1 | .8 | .8 | 97.7 | |
| Yellow | 3 | 2.3 | 2.3 | 100.0 | |
| Total | 128 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
A blue of some description (be it light or dark) was the most commonly used foreground colour. Here, I'm referring to foreground elements other than the text, such as banners, borders etc.
| Frequency | Percent | Valid Percent | Cumulative Percent | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valid | No | 121 | 94.5 | 94.5 | 94.5 |
| Yes, style sheets | 2 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 96.1 | |
| Yes - test size | 3 | 2.3 | 2.3 | 98.4 | |
| Yes - text size, background colour | 1 | .8 | .8 | 99.2 | |
| Yes - text size, style sheets | 1 | .8 | .8 | 100.0 | |
| Total | 128 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
Most sites did not offer the facility to customise their appearance by clicking a button or link but a few did allow this via choosing a different style sheet or making alterations in an accessibility section. The chart above simply records those sites that had these options directly accessible from links or buttons on the home page.