Two things I want to discuss now. First, a <tag> tells the browser to do something. An attribute goes inside the <tag> and tells the browser how to do it.
Second point is about defaults. As you probably know, the default value is a value that the browser assumes if you have not told it otherwise. A good example is the font size. The default font size is 3 (usually). If you say nothing it will be 3. If you make faces at your computer it will still be 3.
Every browser has a default font setting - font name, size and color. Unless you have messed with it, the default is probably Times New Roman or Verdana 12pt (which translates into 3 for our purposes) and it's black. Of course we can specify font names other than the defaults. Like arial and comic sans ms.
The font will only display if your visitor has that font installed on their computer. Let me repeat... If the person looking at the page doesn't have installed on their computer the font you specify, then they will only see the default font. So be very judicious in your use of fonts. Arial and Comic Sans MS are pretty widely distributed with Windows. So is Impact. You can hedge your bets a little by specifying more than one font. (Yes! You can do that!). Just do something like this...
For lunkheads like me that might not understand that right away, here's what's happening... The browser looks for arial. If it finds it, it uses it. If not, it goes on to helvetica. If it can't find that, it looks for lucida sans. And if it can't find that it uses the default font.
What are some common fonts that are on *most* computers and are pretty safe bets?
Arial Arial Black Arial Narrow Bookman Old Style Century Gothic
Comic Sans MS Courier New Georgia Impact
Lucida Console Tahoma Times New Roman Trebuchet MS Verdana
To see how various fonts might look through your browser, you might want to play with the Simple Font Widget.
FAQ:Can I somehow embed a font or force a download of my font so my visitors automatically get the font I'm using?
A: For all practical purposes... no. The only way that they will see the font you specify is if they have that font on their system. There are some emerging web technologies that actually do embed special fonts in a web page, but these are very rarely used, not very widely supported and generally a pain in the butt. You can always offer a simple link to your font. Your visitors can download & install it if they wish.
