Question: Can anyone furnish me answers for the following

1. The criteria for selecting fonts for documents/online help/webpage/publication?
2. Which font is easy on the eye?
3. Which font takes less space?

Answer: The serif helps character recognition. So you read text written using serif font faster. For example, if I give you 50 pages of text in 10 pt Arial and 10 pt TNR, you will read the TNR pages faster. That being the reason, serif fonts are used for lengthy portions of text (body text). There is nothing wrong is using sans-serif font for body text. Just that Serif is preferred because of the reason stated above. Also note that if the document is going to be read online (Help File, HTML pages, PDF etc), then do not use serif font. Most monitors use Cathode Ray Tubes (CRTs). There is a light beam that traces the screen at regular intervals of time. In such cases, the resolution of the screen does not display characters having Serif properly and hence lades to flicker. When this happens, your eyes develop fatigue (get tired of reading). So use Sans-serif font in such cases. Also try to avoid using Serif fonts within borders or limited spaces (for example Table cells, callouts and so on). For the given font size, the Serif font becomes smaller as it has to accommodate the serif within the same space. If you are creating a PDF, try using increased line spacing (1.2 or 1.5). This helps the reader to focus on the lines. The number of pages will increase somewhat, but the reading clarity is worth it.