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Questions about Fonts

by dansbanners
5 replies
  • WEB DESIGN
    • |
Is having multiple fonts necessary like the example below?:

font-family: sans-serif, Helvetica, Verdana;

That is sans-serif will be used if available, if not, then Helvetica will be used if available, and finally Verdena will be used if none of the prior are available.

Perhaps, I could understand that thinking 20 years ago. But is it necessary these days? Are there some "standard" fonts whereas you could pretty much count on that nearly everyone or all browsers has them, etc?

I also noticed that some fonts are enclosed within the ' ' like 'Lucida Grande'. What's the implication there?

Thanks!
#fonts #questions
  • Profile picture of the author David V
    Originally Posted by dansbanners View Post

    Is having multiple fonts necessary like the example below?:

    font-family: sans-serif, Helvetica, Verdana;

    That is sans-serif will be used if available, if not, then Helvetica will be used if available, and finally Verdena will be used if none of the prior are available.

    Perhaps, I could understand that thinking 20 years ago. But is it necessary these days? Are there some "standard" fonts whereas you could pretty much count on that nearly everyone or all browsers has them, etc?

    I also noticed that some fonts are enclosed within the ' ' like 'Lucida Grande'. What's the implication there?

    Thanks!

    The users browser can only apply a font if it's available on the users OS, so the multiple fonts are a preferential order of the fonts you want displayed on your site.
    That's why Google fonts and Typekit have become so popular, the font doesn't have to be on the users OS.

    As far as standard fonts, that's what the broad serif or sans-serif is for in the font-family. It will use the default serif or sans-serif font on the users OS.

    You could just specify your desired font and the fallback.

    font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif;

    If you didn't do this, a default font would be used, but I would think you'd like to control the display on your site better than that.

    Use SASS or Less and you'll never have to type out all those fonts more than once. Just create your font "stacks" and your done.

    What you find on Windows is definitely different than on a Mac. Until all OS's have exactly the same fonts, this will be necessary.
    Even if all OS's did have the same fonts, you'd want to control the font display on your site. Every font is different and letter spacing, kerning, line height, and more all matter when you choose your font.

    The quote marks (or tick marks) are required if the font is more than one word.
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  • Profile picture of the author bettersocial
    It's certainly not a requirement anymore, but it hardly takes any effort at all, so why not put it in?
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