"some fonts get more into the space"

I used to use Arial Narrow on my Win98 Desktop.

I also liked the MS Comic font.

"if you must have a graphic in the background, make it light, low contrast and defocused, even if you just alter the area around the text"

I'll repeat that - not everybody seems to be built the same, so that while many seem to be able to handle light on dark easily, some can't.

I don't have the links, but remember that there used to be guides for those with sight issues (age, etc) about readability issues, and also extra guides for web pages.

Another point - restrict the number of fonts, any more than 3 in a document, and it looks like a pig's breakfast...