The most suitable and ideal fonts for web that render on all browsers, OS and devices beautifully.

Whenever you create a website that is likely to be opened in various parts of the world, on different web browsers or operating systems, and even on different kinds of devices (computers, mobile phones etc.), you need to pay extra attention while using fonts.There are only a few fonts which are displayed in the same manner in all kinds of these scenarios.

Today we are listing the fonts which look the same regardless of user’s browser, operating system and even device. These are called web safe fonts.
We have also added font-family code examples to describe the font stack you should use with each of these fonts.

Note: This font stack code is only to provide info about font family. Of course, you’ll need to add styling codes, such as point size, spacing etc. for proper display.

Note 2: Link backs to the source sites are not being provided because it is most likely that you already have these fonts in your computer. Most of these fonts come built-in with common operating systems and common desktop publishing suits. Yet if you somehow don’t have the font you like, you might have to buy it from Fonts.com or you can google for a free download.

Sans Serif Fonts for Web

Serifs are the tiny strokes at the end of the main stroke of a font character. A font family that doesn’t have these serifs is referred to as sans-serif font family. Sans-serif fonts are mostly used online because they are easier to read on screens.

Tip: Tahoma and Verdana work better than any other font I’ve checked (and I’ve checked loads of fonts) on unicode. So if you are making a non-english, especially right-to-left language site, try to stay within these two.

Arial

Arial: one of the most famous web safe fonts.

font-family: Arial, “Helvetica Neue”, Helvetica, sans-serif;

Avant Garde

Avant Garde: cool sans serif font.

font-family: “Avant Garde”, Avantgarde, “Century Gothic”, CenturyGothic, “AppleGothic”, sans-serif;

Calibri

Calibri: the finest font microsoft developed.

font-family: Calibri, Candara, Segoe, “Segoe UI”, Optima, Arial, sans-serif;

Candara

Candara: a unique font

font-family: Candara, Calibri, Segoe, “Segoe UI”, Optima, Arial, sans-serif;

Franklin Gothic Medium

Franklin Gothic: one of the most popular fonts among designers.

font-family: “Franklin Gothic Medium”, “Franklin Gothic”, “ITC Franklin Gothic”, Arial, sans-serif;

Futura

Futura: ironically, looks a little vintage.

font-family: Futura, “Trebuchet MS”, Arial, sans-serif;

Helvetica

Helvetica: the font that revolutionized the industry.

font-family: “Helvetica Neue”, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;

Impact

Impact: ideal font for creating headings.

font-family: Impact, Haettenschweiler, “Franklin Gothic Bold”, Charcoal, “Helvetica Inserat”, “Bitstream Vera Sans Bold”, “Arial Black”, sans serif;

Optima

Optima: Modern and sleek font loved by designers.

font-family: Optima, Segoe, “Segoe UI”, Candara, Calibri, Arial, sans-serif;

Tahoma

Tahoma: brilliant font to work with unicode.

font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Segoe, sans-serif;

Verdana

Verdana: another good font for unicode.

font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;

Serif Fonts for Web

We just defined what Serif is, so let’s not repeat it. Serif fonts are mostly used in print media, they are easier to read on paper. Serif fonts are usually not preferred because they become difficult to read on screens in general and small screens (phones) in particular.
Yet, some designers deliberately use serif fonts in web design, that is when they are creating large size headings or just want to make some text look different from the rest.

Baskerville

Baskerville: excellent font for web even though it is a serif font.

font-family: Baskerville, “Baskerville Old Face”, “Hoefler Text”, Garamond, “Times New Roman”, serif;

Big Caslon

Big Caslon: stylish serif font.

font-family: “Big Caslon”, “Book Antiqua”, “Palatino Linotype”, Georgia, serif;

Bodoni MT

Bodoni Monotype: bold serif font for headings.

font-family: “Bodoni MT”, Didot, “Didot LT STD”, “Hoefler Text”, Garamond, “Times New Roman”, serif;

Cambria

Cambria: Microsoft's finest serif font.

font-family: Cambria, Georgia, serif;

Didot

Didot: stylish, decorated serif font for web.

font-family: Didot, “Didot LT STD”, “Hoefler Text”, Garamond, “Times New Roman”, serif;

Georgia

Georgia

font-family: Georgia, Times, “Times New Roman”, serif;

Lucida Bright

Lucida Bright: serif font for content.

font-family: “Lucida Bright”, Georgia, serif;

Palatino

Palatino

font-family: Palatino, “Palatino Linotype”, “Palatino LT STD”, “Book Antiqua”, Georgia, serif;

Perpetua

Perpetua: lovely name!

font-family: Perpetua, Baskerville, “Big Caslon”, “Palatino Linotype”, Palatino, “URW Palladio L”, “Nimbus Roman No9 L”, serif;

Rockwell

Rockwell: a bold font for creating headings and names.

font-family: Rockwell, “Courier Bold”, Courier, Georgia, Times, “Times New Roman”, serif;

Times New Roman

Times New Roman: one of the most common fonts out there.

font-family: TimesNewRoman, “Times New Roman”, Times, Baskerville, Georgia, serif;

Monospace Fonts for Web

A monospace font looks somewhat like a typewriter font. Every character takes up the same width margins. “i” and “w” take the same amount of space. Might seem odd but sometimes, they can be used very creatively.

Andale Mono

Andale Mono: Monospace font for web.

font-family: “Andale Mono”, AndaleMono, monospace;

Consolas

Consolas:Typical typewriter fonts.

font-family: Consolas, monaco, monospace;

Courier New

Courier New: comes built-in in most operating systems.

font-family: “Courier New”, Courier, “Lucida Sans Typewriter”, “Lucida Typewriter”, monospace;

Lucida Console

Lucida Console: one of the best monospace fonts out there.

font-family: “Lucida Console”, “Lucida Sans Typewriter”, Monaco, “Bitstream Vera Sans Mono”, monospace;

Lucida Sans Typewriter

Lucida Sans Typewriter Font

font-family: “Lucida Sans Typewriter”, “Lucida Console”, Monaco, “Bitstream Vera Sans Mono”, monospace;

Misc. Fonts for Web

Brush Script MT

Brush Script: handwritten or paintbrush font effect.

font-family: “Brush Script MT”, cursive;

Copperplate

Copperplate: Stylish fantasy font for headings.

font-family: Copperplate, “Copperplate Gothic Light”, fantasy;

Papyrus

Papyrus Font

font-family: Papyrus, fantasy;

Web Safe Fonts for Mobile Devices

If you are designing websites for mobile devices, the space is even limited here. You cannot use all the fonts listed above for mobile phones.
The fonts listed below are the ones which are commonly used on mobile based websites. You can use @font-face tag for Android devices to import the fonts in the device. iPhone, iPod, and iPad devices come with these fonts built-in:

  • Arial
  • Courier
  • Georgia
  • Palatino
  • Verdana
  • Helvetica
  • Courier New
  • Times New Roman
:)

I hope you like my effort. This post is response to Aravind’s request. If you want us to make a post on any topic, anything at all (but relevant of course), just comment and we’ll get on it.

Credit Note: screenshots of these fonts were taken from from Fonts.com, font family codes were provided courtesy w3schools and cssfontstack.