Re: Web Fonts

G'Day Lynne,

I've got good news and bad news for you :)

First, the bad news:

At 14:28 5/10/99 -0400, you wrote:
>I am involved in small business marketing of which web site planning and
>layout is now playing an integral part.  I do the write ups for my
>clients and work with several individuals who are considered to be good
>web masters; however, I have come up against one obstacle when working
>with them and not one of them can give me a proper answer with respect
>to a list of web site fonts that I may utilize when designing the layout
>for my clients' respective sites.

The list is quite simple: serif and sans-serif

That's basically it!  You only have two to choose from.  Yes, you can 
expand this by selecting something like "Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" 
which means the browser will look first for Arial (satisfies PC computers), 
then Helvetica (satisfies Macs), then uses a default sans serif font for 
all others.

Web page design is not an exact science like print-based media - unless you 
can guarantee your audience has the intended font installed on their 
machine, you are out of luck.

>I create some of the graphics and
>give them the text in a font that reflects the client's image;
>consequently, it creates no end of problems when the web masters I am
>working with are at loss because they cannot match the font.

This is where you will have to change YOUR concept of designing for the 
web.  You need to plan your work based predominantly on either basic serif 
or sans serif fonts.

Now the good news:

While this may sound extremely limiting, you can then "dress-up" the page 
by judicious use of graphics.  By turning ANY FONT you wish to use into a 
graphic, it will display correctly on all browsers regardless of what is 
installed on their system.  The down-side of this is the increased download 
time.

>It causes
>grief on both sides; consequently, without a list of proper web site
>fonts, this situation will continue to exist.

If you ever have to work cross-platform with others, try sticking with 
Adobe fonts - they are the same on both PC and Mac platform.  Again, this 
is ONLY for designing graphics - don't rely on individual users having the 
fonts.

Good luck :)

Chris Higgs <c.higgs(at)landfood.unimelb.edu.au>
Institute of Land and Food Resources
University of Melbourne
http://www.landfood.unimelb.edu.au

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