While doing another useless web search, I stumbled across the question "What is the best font to use for email messages".  It seems like it would be a controversial or 'in the eye of the beholder' type of selection.  Apparently it isn't.  I even stumbled across a dissertation someone did on the topic.  I'll admit I didn't read the 624 page study, page 91 seemed to cut to the core of the top 3:  Arial, Times & Verdana.  According to the web community, Arial and Verdana are the top picks (mine has always been verdana, it seems the cleanest and easiest font to read) with Arial being the clear leader in the study.  Many respondents on the forums opt for plain text, but I think we're moving away from that unfortunately.  What I did find interesting in the study was that #4 was Comic Sans, which the web regards as being one of the worst fonts for email.  I like the font for certain items, but I do agree that its considered an amateurish font you'd use for family when you want to send out that birthday invite or the latest chain letter you got.  Also notable in the study is that the top 3 least favorite fonts are Comic Sans, Times and Arial.  Using both charts, verdana might be the clear winner since it wasn't listed in the least favorite font by any of the respondents.  In case anyone is wondering, 10pt seems to be the primary pick as well.

I'd be interested if anyone has any better recommendations.  Also, is there a particular color people prefer?  I think I've used navy blue in the past, I'm going to switch to black now and see how I feel about that.  It's also possible that I'm just being OCD as well.  :)

Here is a great plug-in that will help you to improve your email efficiency with no work on your part.  After a simple install, Xobni adds a handful of amazing features to outlook.  Xobni's handful of features include an email search functionality which is nothing new, but is not only incredibly fast and accurate, it is almost required for those of us using Outlook 2007 which is known to have inaccurate and in-concise search results or just stops working altogether.  Other functionality of Xobni is relating to attachments.  Click on a persons name and it will show in the Xobni panel all of the files you have exchanged between that person, in date order for revision tracking.  I have already saved tons of time with this feature alone, as I am always sorting by attachments to hunt down the attachment that was sent by a specific user.  Xobni has built in analytics, while not necessarily an efficiency saver like the rest of the features, sure is interesting to read.  Ever wonder how long it takes someone to respond, this'll tell you.  I can see a use for this, if you've ever tried to convince someone that so-and-so never replies to you or takes forever, now you have the statistics to prove it.  For the sales types, you can also click on a person and find out their Linkedin, facebook or Hoover company results quickly.  If you're interested, watch the video below and check Xobni out directly!