10 “Safe” fonts you can use on websites

Once you start designing web pages you will undoubtedly notice that you have limited font choices. You are limited to the fonts available on the viewer’s computer.

Here are the basic font faces available on most machines:

1. Arial
2. Arial Black
3. Comic Sans MS
4. Courier, Courier New
5. Georgia
6. Helvetica
7. Impact
8. Times, Times New Roman
9. Trebuchet MS
10. Verdana

Some tips to getting making the most out of fonts on websites:

1. Sans serifs are best for online viewing
2. You can use serif fonts for headlines and subheads
3. Vary the sizes of fonts to create contrast
4. Use font weight to create contrast as well
5. Never use body type or or other small type in color as it makes it harder to read
6. Rarely use underlining (if you do, use it on black type, never color) as this may look like links
7. Many websites make use of graphics for creating headlines and even subheads to create more appealing layouts*
8. If you have testimonials or interesting quotes, you can create an appealing graphic for that*

N O T E S :

* If using graphics to replace text, include a description in “ALT” tags for search engine optimization. Type in graphics is not read.

Technorati Tags: Typography, Web Design

Related posts:

1. What do your sans serif fonts say about you
2. What do your serif fonts say about you?
3. Typography on the web
4. How to choose the typeface for your headlines
5. How many fonts are too much on a page?