|
Fonts
and Typefaces Tutorial
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.
The following 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 for the Web.
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>
|