typefaces have hooks, 'feet' on the ends of characters. These help lead the eye from one letter to the next, to form whole words. Serif faces are considered very readable, especially for long passages of text. These fonts are considered more formal and serious than sans-serif, and used to give long documents weight and professionalism.
Times New Roman is a common choice of serif font - but its frequent use may mean your document loses a certain amount of distinctiveness. There are many serif fonts available, and can be categorised as:
Sans-serif
typefaces, without the hooks, are newer. They are starker in appearance. These are better suited to documents that are intended to be skimmed or browsed, and are also very readable on screen. These fonts are generally considered crisper, bolder, and more informal than serif faces - and are frequently used in marketing documents.
Arial is a common choice of sans-serif font - but this is used very frequently, and won't help to distinguish your documents. Verdana is a recent popular choice, but is designed for legibility at small sizes on screen - and is not suited to printed documents. Many sans-serif fonts are available, in these categories:
