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Choosing a typeface (font) is the starting point of typographic design and can inform the overall design or feel of a page. Web typography has always suffered from a minor disadvantage in that only fonts that are actually installed on users' computers can be displayed properly in the web browser.
Below is a chart of some of the most common typefaces available today. The chart has a check mark in the column of the operating system that it is normally found on by default. Green is for commonly supported fonts and yellow is for less commonly supported fonts.
There are two main families of fonts: serif and sans serif. Serif fonts are those that have fine cross-lines at the extremities of the letter. Sans serif ("sans" being the French word for "without") are fonts that don't have serifs. The most common serif font (and default in Windows browsers) is Times New Roman. Verdana is the most screen readable sans serif font.
Web Safe/Common fonts
| Generic | Font | Windows 9x/2K/XP |
Windows Vista/7 |
Mac Classic |
Mac OS X |
Linux Unix |
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| serif | Palatino |  |
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| Palatino Linotype | |
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| Times New Roman | |
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| Times | |
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| Georgia | |
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| sans-serif | Andale Mono | |
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| Arial | |
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| Arial Black | |
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| Century Gothic | |
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| Helvetica | |
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| Impact | |
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| Trebuchet MS | |
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| Verdana | |
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| cursive | Comic Sans MS | |
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| monospace | Courier New | |
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| Courier | |
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Sample Font Display
Review a few of the samples below and make your own judgement as to which looks best to you and why. Then ask yourself if your customer or website user would feel the same way. If they did, would they arrive at that response for the same reason? For what it is worth, Times New Roman is a very popular print font, while verdana is one of the most legible on-screen fonts. Our website uses primarily Trebuchet MS for menus and some category headers, but arial is mixed in for page headers and most body text.
Arial
This is a sample paragraph using the Arial font. Arial is a Sans-Serif font. This font is considered a "web safe" font and usable by all major browsers.
Century Gothic
This is a sample paragraph using the Century Gothic font. Century Gothic is a Sans-Serif font. This font is considered a "web safe" font and usable by all major browsers.
Comic Sans MS
This is a sample paragraph using the Comic Sans MS font. Comic Sans MS is a cursive font. This font is considered a "web safe" font and usable by all major browsers.
Courier New
This is a sample paragraph using the Courier New font. Courier New is a monospace font. This font is considered a "web safe" font and usable by all major browsers.
Georgia
This is a sample paragraph using the Georgia font. Georgia is a Serif font. This font is considered a "web safe" font and usable by all major browsers.
Times New Roman
This is a sample paragraph using the Times New Roman font. Times New Roman is a Serif font. This font is considered a "web safe" font and usable by all major browsers.
Trebuchet MS
This is a sample paragraph using the Trebuchet MS font. Trebuchet MS is a Sans-Serif font. This font is considered a "web safe" font and usable by all major browsers.
Verdana
This is a sample paragraph using the Verdana font. Verdana is a Sans-Serif font. This font is considered a "web safe" font and usable by all major browsers.
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