What are the pros and cons of using the text tool? What are the pros and cons of putting text into a shape instead?

It seems to me that putting text into a shape helps keep the size of the shape consistent, making it easier to line up with other objects on the page. A text box, on the other hand, seems to vary quite a bit, depending on the browser and screen size. (But maybe there is some advantage to that?)

Also, if putting text into an object turns the text into a graphic, does this mean I could use any font and not have to worry about compatibility for the user? I believe using the text tool means one should ideally limit oneself to a few universally-compatible fonts, even though the text tool itself lists all of the fonts I have installed. Your thoughts, please?

I don't think there's any right or wrong answer for this. I would do what ever makes your site look and preform best for you.

Hi Melodie,

Pros:
It will definitely maintain consistency across all browsers and it you can apply some pretty cool effects to your text.

Cons:
There are several different opinions on this but my take would be to avoid doing this on a regular basis because it will hurt your SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Google and other browsers cannot read images, so if you replaced all your important "header" type of categories with images you will actually lose ranking even if you mark your image with an alt tag.

Any ways thats my 2 cents

Thanks, Eric!

Steve, I had completely forgotten about losing SEO by making my text into graphics. That is a big reason not to do it, at least not too much.

One thing you can do is enter text into the Alternate Text box for a shape. That renders text search engines can find.
I use shapes like that all the time, and they are found by search engines.

Yes this is true however since the big shift Google made in 2012 your website will be pushed down the ranking if it cannot find <h1>, <h2>, <strong>, and other such tags and of course other things like keywords, descriptions and such.

Website Insight is a great tool to check for these things by the way.
http://www.coffeecup.com/website-insight/

The use of images for headings (all the time) is a very bad idea. Especially on the home page as this is where Google (and others) will grab the keywords and headings and such to enter into there algorithms that determine what ranking you get.