Speech Bubbles

They are useful tools, use them! Text left out alone easily blends into the background or gets confused with other character's dialogue; a background and border are easy solutions.

Although they are added toward the end of the creation process, speech bubbles should be planned from the beginning. In each panel enough space needs to be left for the required text, keeping in mind the length of the words. Hyphenation disturbs the flow of text and should be avoided. If at all possible, nothing should be in front of a speech bubble (except for effects). Most importantly, the order of the text boxes should be obvious. Either order the bubbles top to bottom or left to right for each set of bubbles--never mix the style with adjacent bubbles.

Black text on a white background is a good standard, be wary of straying far. Without enough contrast between two it becomes very hard to read; save your neon greens, yellows and pinks for highlights. It's best to use a simple font (sans serif is traditional, but doesn't make much difference). Basically, the letters should be instantly readable.

Many webcomics use fonts & colors to designate the speaking character. Keep in mind that this makes it hard hide identities, or make characters speak together. Less hard on the eyes are modifications to just the border. With a little creativity, they can be just as expressive, but don't affect readability.

Enough confusion gets in unintentionally, no need to add more.