Web Design in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition

Commonly Available Fonts

Because a font will display only if it is available on a user’s hard drive, it makes sense to design with the most commonly available fonts, particularly for sites with wide-reaching audiences. So, which fonts can you rely on?

In general web design practice, designers tend to specify fonts from Microsoft’s Core Web Fonts collection. This is a set of TrueType fonts (for both Windows and Mac) that have been specially designed to be easy to read on screens at small sizes. Microsoft released the fonts in 1996 and initially made them available for download. Today, they are installed automatically with Internet Explorer and other Microsoft software, so you can count on the majority of users having them available. Table 18-1 lists the fonts in the Core Web Fonts collection.

Table 18-1. Core Web Fonts from Microsoft

Serif	Georgia Times New Roman
Sans Serif	Arial Arial Black Trebuchet MS Verdana
Monospace	Courier New Andale Mono
Miscellaneous	Comic Sans MS Impact Webdings

Tip

Microsoft publishes an interesting online resource that lists which fonts are installed with its various popular applications and each version of the Windows operating system. There are also lists of the fonts that come installed with Macintosh OS X, Unix systems, and Adobe Type Manager. You’ll find the font lists at http://www.microsoft.com/typography/fonts/default.aspx.

If you know your audience might have more specialized fonts installed, by all means, make a statement and go off the beaten ...