Need an introduction. This page should be restricted to general issues of displaying chemical structure diagrams. Issues related to specific areas of chemistry are broken out in separate discussions
Any font is acceptable, but plainer fonts are preferred. Normally the fonts used in a chemical structure should match those used in any associated text, or be different from them in a clearly visible way (such as serif versus sans serif).
Except when emphasis is desired, use of color should be avoided, and chemical structures should be displayed in the same color as any associated material. Most commonly that means that the structures should be displayed in black on a white background, although some circumstances prefer alternate coloring schemes (projected transparencies are often displayed as white or yellow on a dark blue or black background).
When emphasis is desired, colors may be used to provide that emphasis. Any colors used in a document should be clear and visually distinct. Most commonly, red would be used as the primary color for emphasis. A dark blue or dark gray color would be a very poor choice for emphasis in a structure that was mostly black, and similar choices of low-contrast colors should be avoided.
Authors are encouraged to remember that more than 5% of American men are colorblind (the percentage varies in different populations). The combined use of red and green in one diagram is strongly discourged.
