Jul 1, 2009
Nov 25, 2007
Best bet fonts
I'm a font lover, and it has always been a source of some frustration that web typography is limited to whatever fonts are installed on the user's computer. Arial, Times New Roman, and Courier New are safe for windows. Throw in Geneva or Helvetica, which are reported to be Mac approximations.
But what if I'm feeling a little adventurous? What if I want to try Tahoma or Verdana? Goudy Old Style or Garamond? What are my chances that those fonts will be installed on a Windows user's computer, much less a Mac user's?
Some help is available in the form of Code Style's online font survey. Since 2003, survey submissions have been collected from participating site visitors and compiled into a listing of the most commonly installed fonts and the percentage of systems on which they were found.
Pretty handy, when you're thinking of using Lucida Sans on a web page and would like to have some idea how likely it is that your visitors will see it as you intended.
Nov 17, 2007
Just my type
Lately, when not focused on the mysteries of XSL transformations, I've been spending a fair bit of time trolling the web and trying to learn how to better use of typography in my web page designs. I feel I've got a strong base of CSS experience and know how to place things where I want them; now I want to learn the process of deciding where to put them. What type face to use, at what size, and in which color.
But here's the rub: lots of typography sites rant at length about how most web designers know bupkes about typography and its history, but very few actually get around to offering the sort of information that might remedy that shortcoming. Where should those of us who didn't go to art college supposed to learn the secret handshake, this late in the game?
Fortunately, tucked away in a comment on one of these typography blogs, I found a couple links to pages that in turn contain links to other pages that actually do offer information — not just heavy doses of condescension:
If I can find enough of this sort of material, I may eventually be able to get the hang of how to design with type and not just why I should.