When to use Sans Serif? or Serif

After Jimmy showed us the ten commandments of typography I knew there was more to it than this. In our textbook we are encourage to use classic typefaces such as Bodoni and Garamond. I looked into what other typographers have set. I came across this rule:

"Serif type is easier to the eyes than sans serif."

There's an old principle in the graphics world that goes "Serif type is easier to read because the serifs draws your eye from character to character." Hence, sans serif type is oftentimes used for headings and short quantities of text.

Truth to tell, all fonts can be made readable (except, well, maybe for Wingdings) with the ideal design. With sans serif, although it needs more leading than serif type, it can give your documents a very modern look, and is the popular body text in Europe.

This rule make sense especially since most textbook are written in serif typefaces. But, the majority of websites use sans serif in body text. So my main concern is should sans serif mostly be used for headlines because of clarity purposes? I find that sans serif as just as easy to read in comparison to serif typefaces. Of course with proper leading they can flow just as easy as serift typefaces. Variations in thickness and strokes of letters at least to me sometimes make serifs typefaces the ideal for body text. I I purposely made this paragraph in serif Verdana to illustrate another example as our text mentions as well with respects to serif typefaces.

On a different Note

Outside typography I tried to embark on the Monster software called: Maya! boy Im glad I am studying to be a graphic artist. Two quarters ago(I know this is not Typography) related but I curious to know if any other Graphic Artist has been through this. I took a computer graphic class and it was nothing to what I expected. There is so much in 3D design I did not know up until I took Computer Graphics 2. For those of you curious to take this class I do recommend it but it will be challenge if you are not open minded. In the end I made a subdivisional character. I took the easy way out in this last project...What do u think? 

Designing with Type, the challange

Up until I took Jimmy Moss Typography class I never knew the challenges that one has to embark when making an interesting composition made mostly of type. I choose to use the Random composition using large letters. I choose Optima for this first project. I wanted the letters to stand out so I used complementary  colors. Slight brush strokes underneath some letter are used to emphasize more importance to some directions.  The challenges in this project are making the typography interesting to look at. I am still working on this first project  and hope it will help further my creativity. I am still waiting for my textbook to arrive from amazon.com until then I simply must say this first project... is a design challenge.