Web typography is pretty much synonymous with limitations. Limited controls, limited styles, but, most importantly, limited font-family choices. The first two limitations can only be overcome through changes in the browsers, however, there are a surprisingly large number of fonts to choose from, if you are willing to work with a more fluid typography.Most designers are familiar with the 11 “Core Web Fonts” that are industry standards. Primarily, we will use Arial (or Helvetica), Times New Roman (or just Times), and Georgia, which has become increasingly popular in the last few years. You will occasionally see Verdana and Trebuchet MS tried, but these are not the most elegant looking of fonts. We use these fonts because we know that they are pre-installed on most computers. Yet most computers will also have many other fonts pre-installed on them, either by the operating system or by specific applications.
I have created a list of “Web Safe Fonts” showing fonts pre-installed on Windows and Mac as well as fonts installed by iLife on the Mac (which is standard on all Macs) and Microsoft Office for both Mac and PC. Although not all of these fonts will be of general use, it does balloon the list of reliable fonts from 11 to around 200. To make selection easier, I have also indicated which OS the font is pre-installed for, ranked each font on a scale from 1 to 5 (with 1 for fonts certain to be installed and 5 for fonts unlikely to be installed), and the source of the fonts instillation.When choosing fonts to use, in your font-family list, keep these points in mind:
- Test the different fonts in different combinations.
- For headline copy, use fonts with similar widths and kerning.
- For body copy, select fonts with bold, italic, and bold/italic versions.
- If you download a font or use a Web Safe Font, always include a Core Web Font and generic font-family as back-ups.
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