Curated by: Luigi Canali De Rossi
 


Thursday, September 16, 2004

Common Fonts And Typefaces Across Browsers And Operating Systems

Browser News is an online resource devoted exclusively to provide information about Internet browsers and related issues: HTML, compatibility, page load times, standards, and more.

Authored by Chuck Upsdell, a Web site designer and engineer himself, Browser News is not a new site and its value comes actually from having been collecting valuable information for some time (the site has some very recent updates), including a comprehensive list of all present browsers as well as access to the direct download of new, old and uncommon browser versions. I was particularly struck by the interesting information about fonts, a topic on which it is rare to find reliable information and which many small webmasters have little understanding of.

The issue with fonts always boils down to this: you should not assume that, because you have certain fonts, your users do too..

Unless you use a PDF file, which keeps fonts embedded or emulates them closely across different computer types, the issue remains a frustrating one for many.

One valuable feature worth the journey and a printout of the page is the small table reporting fonts availability across the different operating systems. When publishing for a global audience and wanting to provide maximum accessibility it is important to be aware of what other systems may consider their font defaults.

A good complement from another site to this topic is also "Common fonts to all versions of Windows & Mac equivalents" by Alberto Martinez Perez, which provides a comprehensive table of the standard set of fonts common to all versions of Windows and their Mac substitutes. Another great resource when building Web pages for maximum compatibility.

I would actually be quite interested in learning more about other online resources that provide detailed and comprehensive information on this very topic.

If you are aware of any, please be welcome to add it to this page through the comments section.

 

 

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Readers' Comments    
2005-06-08 08:41:55

squeeky

There is an interesting discussion about cross browser font size at http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum83/106.htm



 
posted by Robin Good on Thursday, September 16 2004, updated on Tuesday, May 5 2015

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