When you’re fairly new to the world of web design, it can actually be quite tricky to choose which fonts to use. But once you understand what “web-safe fonts” really are, it all suddenly becomes crystal clear. Safe web fonts are basically the most popular fonts used by web designers to make the content of their websites attractive to visitors. They are also the most commonly available fonts on computers around the world.
If you download a really cool but rare font from your favorite free website and decide to use it for all your main headers, for example, you should be aware that unfortunately not everyone will be able to see your masterpiece the way you created it.
In other words, if people who visit your website don’t have the fonts you used to design it on their computers, they won’t be able to see those particular fonts on their screens. Instead, their browsers will replace them with some other fonts that are already installed on their computers.
That is why it is highly recommended that you use the most popular fonts so that almost everyone can see your website exactly as it is.
There are many safe web fonts that you can use to create your websites, all you need is a little creativity to make them look more attractive and use them to your advantage. Basically, there are two types of fonts you should be aware of:
* serif fonts
* Sans Serif fonts (Sans is French for without)
Serif fonts are fonts that have thin crossed lines at the end of the letters, and Sans Serif fonts are fonts that have nothing at the end of the letters. The most common Serif font is Times New Roman, which coincidentally is also the default font for most Windows-based browsers.
There are also monospaced fonts, which are basically fonts that have the same amount of space between each letter. Here is a list of the 23 most used fonts: I personally use Georgia, Times New Roman, Tahoma for texts, and Impact for headings, which I think look great on a web page:
Most common serif fonts:
- old style bookman
- Cambria
- constance
- garamond
- Georgia
- Palatal Linotype
- Times New Roman
Most Common Sans Serif Fonts:
- Arial
- Arial Black
- Calibri
- candara
- Gothic century
- Bracket
- Helvetica
- Impact
- MS Sans Serif
- thomas
- MS trebuchet
- verdana
Most common monospaced fonts:
- consoles
- Messenger New
- delivery courier
Final thoughts:
To make your life easier, I recommend sticking to the most common fonts listed above for the body text of your websites. This will ensure that everyone who visits your website can see it exactly the way you want it to look.
However, you can use any font you choose for your logos, navigation, and other website design elements as long as you use them as part of an image. For example, in a clickable logo or banner designed in Photoshop or PaintNet that you then insert into your web page. Well, I really hope this has helped you understand what safe web fonts are and how to use them.
sincerely