Even small differences in fonts influence everything from the basic "look and feel" of your web presence to organzational policy. How? Take a look at the trustworthy ampersand via this online exhibition : three-hundred and sixty five. Which one best describes your organziation and why?

A perennial challenge in web design centers on fonts or, more accurately, typography. Because your web site can be accessed from any computer with an Internet connection, actual text (opposed to a graphic) forces us to use fonts that are commonly found on ALL computers whether PC, Mac or otherwise so the page looks consistent. These tend to be standard fonts like Arial, Verdana, Georgia, Helvetica etc...

This has worked out fine but restricts the use of any other font to a graphic which typically is not good because graphic are inaccessible - that is, they can not be read by screen readers or other assistive devices used by the sight impaired.

Fortunately, a new trend is emerging....font services. Soon to launch TypeKit allows a web site to "subscribe" to a font library for around $50 a year. Using the tag : @font-face, any font in that library can be imported into your site instantly and used as real text. If it takes off it will be revolutionary for web design and development.

We've tested Typekit and think it's a go. Don't get too excited however. We'll still push you to use a standard font for basic copy. No one wants to read a cursive script on the web.

Many non-profit CEOs or executive directors ask me about the use of Twitter, almost always with a smirk of skepticism. Would people really follow them? Outside the obvious event or fundraiser promotion - what would they tweet? While pushing content out to one's base is important - that's not the way to think about twitter.

It was relatively late in the game that Twitter made perfect sense to me - it's the ideal, no...perfect tool for knowing your customer base, competitors, donors, whatever population you're trying to keep a pulse on. It's not so much about the push (tweeting) as the pull (following). I use twitter daily to keep track of what's going on in several Boston industries - restaurant, education, museums, non-profit - any field where I have clients or wish to have clients. Precisely because of the short length of each message and the relative ease to publish it, people tend to publish thoughts, goals, small daily events that you can't get from following the trades and certainly aren't going to find out at that next mixer.

Select the people, businesses or organizations that you want or need to know and follow them. Not sure who to follow? See who others are following. Soon, you will have a collective pulse of what's going on around town (or further out if you choose) while also being seen as someone who's interested in that business or person....good basic customer relations management.