The
problem with choosing fonts for web pages is that the font needs to be installed
on the user's computer in order for the web browser to display your chosen font.
If your chosen font is not available on the user's computer the web browser
will show its default font. This is usually 'Times New Roman' for Windows machines
and 'Times' on Macintosh machines.
To be safe you will need to stick
to common fonts or 'Web Safe Fonts' that are installed on almost all machines.
This then limits you to only a handful of fonts.
Fonts will always fall
into one of two typeface categories. Either serif, meaning the font has curly
bits at the top and bottom ends on the letters, or sans-serif, which does not
have the curly bits.
The serif typefaces are easier to read on paper,
which is why serif typefaces are used in newspapers and books, but the sans-serif
typefaces are easier to read on a computer screen.
These are
web safe fonts: -
Times New Roman on the Windows
or Times on the Apple Mac has a serif typeface and is available on virtually all
computers.
Arial is a sans-serif font
and is available on all Windows machines or Helvetica which is a very similar
font available on the Apple Mac.
Courier New or Courier on
the Apple Mac is serif font that is un-kerned meaning that there are spaces between
the letters much like text written on a typewriter.
Verdana is a sans-serif
font that is easy to read. This font comes with Internet Explorer 4+ for Windows
and Apple Mac machines.
Georgia is a serif font
available for free from Microsoft for Windows and Apple Mac machines. It is specially
designed for easy reading on a computer screen.
If you find
that your browser is not displaying the fonts shown above then you can download
all of these fonts and more for free from Microsoft TrueType Core Fonts.
In
case the web site user does not have the font installed on their computer you
have chosen for a page it is best to specify several fonts all in the same typeface
to keep your design as near as possible to the way you designed it.
Use
the HTML font tag to specify several font tags with the with the font you want
to use first, followed by equivalent fonts on other machines, and in case the
user does not have any of these fonts on there system then place a generic typeface
last: -
<font face="arial, helvetica,
sans-serif"> HTML text </font>
---------------- Special Thanks to: WebWizGuide
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