Issues that can make it difficult for you to control how your text looks to the user
Creating accessible, usable type for the Web, is not a straight-forward business. It is useful to be aware of the following issues:
- The same fonts are not available on all operating systems.
- Some typefaces are designed to look good on screen, some designed to look good on paper. Those designed to look good on paper (particularly serif fonts) tend to look 'messy' on screen.
- Text size is dependent on screen resolution and operating system being used.
- The type of browser used can affect how the text looks.
- Users have their computers set up with different defaults and can change the preferences on their browsers.
Fonts and operating systems
In the 'designers' ideal world he/she would pick the font-face they think is most appropriate for the job in hand, specify it in their Cascading Style Sheet and publish their fabulous looking Web page for the world to gawp at. The user would see the fonts on the page exactly as specified and gain additional contextual information from their well chosen style.
However, the web is not an environment where such an 'ideal' is possible. For example, not all operating systems or even computers with the same operating systems, have the same set of fonts installed.
As a designer, unless you pick a font that is likely to be available on the majority of users' systems, the browser will display the page using the default font, usually Times or Times New Roman. Times in particular, is not easy to read on a computer monitor, so you could end up, despite thoughtful consideration of what is best for your page, with text that is difficult for users to read.
There are a limited number of fonts that you can depend on to be installed on most systems, designers are, therefore, forced to compromise; picking fonts that most closely meet the needs of their page design, while choosing from the relatively small list of fonts that are likely to be available.
The following table shows the most common fonts on PC, Mac and Unix systems.
| Win 95: | Mac | Unix |
|---|---|---|
| Arial* | Helvetica | Helvetica |
| Times New Roman* | Times | Times |
| Courier New* | Courier | Courier |
| Verdana* | Verdana* | |
| Georgia* | Georgia* | |
| Trebuchet* | Trebuchet* | |
| Comic Sans MS* | Comic Sans MS* | |
| MS Sans Serif | Geneva | |
| MS Serif | New York | |
| Chicago | ||
| Palatino | ||
| Charcoal (1999 onwards) | ||
| Times New Roman* | ||
| Arial* |
* Fonts come with Internet Explorer on both Windows PC and Mac.
Update: Generic MacOS fonts include: Times, Times New Roman, Arial, Helvetica, Courier New and Courier.
- On the excellent Rob Collins's web site you will find a more comprehensive list of Mac, PC and Internet Explorer fonts.
- A useful list of Linux/Unix fonts, and lots more font related information can be found at Browser News.
Many fonts don't look good on computer screens
Although the above list gives you an indication of the fonts that are likely to be available on different hardware platforms - not all are equally good choices for using on the web. Some fonts are optimised for screen display and others optimised for print.
Index | Next: The difference between screen fonts and printer fonts