[thelist] Common Fonts

[Shirley Kaiser, SKDesigns]

Jake wrote:

> > For the love of God and all that is readable, please do not
> > use Arial if you wish your site to be usable on Macs. (I've
> > said this before but I bring it up again because it bears
> > repeating). Any Mac that has Arial installed also has Verdana,
> > so you can safely use Verdana instead.

Rudy responded:

> hi jake
>
> here's a page that goes into this problem in quite some detail --
>
>    Improving Appearance of Arial Font on the Macintosh
>     (Solutions for both Mac Users and Web Developers)
>    http://users.hit.net/~bobbau/platforms/MacArialFonts/
>
> the solutions for web developers
> (http://users.hit.net/~bobbau/platforms/MacArialFonts/#WebAuthors)
> suggests that
>
>     The best choice is therefore:
>              <FONT FACE="Geneva,Arial,Helvetica">
>     This way, the Mac users see Geneva, Windows users see
>     Arial, and UNIX users see Helvetica.
>
>     As still another option, if you actually prefer the
>     appearance of "Verdana" (another sans-serif font), you
>     might specify:
>             <FONT FACE="Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica">
>     This way, Verdana is used if present (on either Windows
>     or Mac). If not, then Geneva is used on the Mac, Arial
>     on Windows, and Helvetica on UNIX.
>
> rudy.ca
>

Peg also responded:
>>
This may help...

<tip type="fonts">
At this url:

http://www.microsoft.com/typography/fonts/default.asp

you can select any MS product to see a list of fonts that are included
with it.  Or you can select a font to find out which MS products include
it.

I tried to find a listing of fonts included with installation of
Netscape Navigator, but my searches were fruitless.
</tip>

sorry to give half an answer but it's a start anyway.

--Peg
<<

My response:
I set up a section at WebsiteTips.com for dealing with issues like this
(I'm the editor there), which includes both of the above references and
much more, too. So you might check that out, bookmark it, as I add new
sites and information all the time. Some of the references I've listed
also have screenshots so you can see how these different fonts and sizes
show up on different systems and browsers.

It's a real eye-opener!

WebsiteTips.com

Click on: Cross-Browser, Cross-Platform Font Issues
http://www.websitetips.com/design/

I hope you find that helpful, too. These font issues are questions that
come up all the time on a bunch of different lists.

Warmly,
Shirley
--
Shirley E. Kaiser, M.A.
SKDesigns  mailto:skaiser at skdesigns.com
Website Development  http://www.skdesigns.com/
Pianist, Composer  http://www.shirleykaiser.com/