The following typefaces appear on most (many?) Macintosh and Windows systems and thus are a good
choice when you want a particular look but can't control the user environment. Note that if
you want Palatino, you need to specify
font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif;
to cover both platforms.
Unlike most typefaces Verdana (sans-serif), Geneva (sans-serif), and Georgia (serif) were designed for computer display. The standard typefaces, e.g., Times New Roman, Palatino, Arial, or Helvetica, were designed for print, therefore adaptation to the computer is always a compromise.
Browser peculiarities: Opera uses Verdana as its sans-serif, instead of Arial on Windows. Cursive and fantasy get short shrift from the browsers; MSIE, Chrome, and Gecko use Comic Sans MS while Opera uses the default for cursive, and for fantasy MSIE uses Arial, Gecko uses Trebuchet MS, Chrome uses Impact, and Opera uses Terminal. Both Gecko and Opera use the default for Symbol and Webdings, thus rendering those typefaces not at all universal even when they exist on the user's platform. Chrome fails to distinguish between Courier New and Courier, using Courier New for both.
I consistently specify
font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; or
font-family: Georgia, serif;
as appropriate unless there is special reason to do otherwise.
| default | The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. |
|---|---|
| serif | The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. |
| sans-serif | The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. |
| cursive | The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. |
| fantasy | The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. |
| monospace | The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. |
| Arial | The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. |
| Arial Black | The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. |
| Comic Sans MS | The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. |
| Courier | The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. |
| Courier New | The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. |
| Georgia | The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. |
| Impact | The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. |
| Palatino (Mac) | The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. |
| Palatino Linotype (Win) | The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. |
| Symbol | The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. |
| Times New Roman | The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. |
| Trebuchet MS | The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. |
| Verdana | The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. |
| Webdings | The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. |