90%* of website design comes down to:
- The image assets you use
- The fonts you select
(*That’s our personal completely hypothetical, biased estimate).
Font embedding services (like Google Web Fonts or Adobe Fonts) sprung up as an alternative, giving your designs something new, fresh, and unexpected.
They’re also super easy to use.
Take Google for example:
Choose any font like Open Sans or Droid Serif or Lato. Generate the code and paste in your document’s <Head>. And you’re all set to reference it in CSS.
That took 60 seconds. And it was completely free. (Thanks, Google!)
What could go wrong, right?
Not everyone will have access to that same font. Which means you will have a problem. That beautiful font you just chose is going to show up as something random for your visitors.
Not if you create a fallback with a web safe alternative!
Here’s how it works.
P.S. Check out our free, step-by-step guide on how to create a website using WordPress.
Why Does ‘Web Safe’ Matter?
Each device comes with its own pre-installed font selection. The selection is based largely on its operating system.
The problem is that every system differs a bit.
Windows-based devices might have one group. MacOS ones pull from another. Google’s own Android system uses its own as well.
Now pull up a website. Even this one would work. The font you see may not be the one original one intended.
Meaning: Let’s say the designer picked some obscure, paid font family for this site’s design. If you don’t have that font already installed and it’s not pulling from a web-friendly place, the font you see would default back to some basic variation like Times New Roman.
You, as the visitor, wouldn’t necessarily know that this is what has happened, though. For you, it might just look plain ugly.
The ‘Web safe’ ones, appear across all operating systems. They’re the small collection of fonts that overlap from Windows to Mac to Google (even Unix or Linux ones too).
They give designers (and website owners) the ability to specify which fonts to fall back to if needed. That way, you can control what shows up (no matter what) across all devices. And you can pick something that’s still kinda close to the original font (so that your users wouldn’t see something random or out of place).
It’s a plan B, the ‘just-in-case’ version. An emergency system to save the world from bad font selections.
Got it? Good! Now let’s take a look at the most popular web safe fonts to choose from.
15 Best Web Safe Fonts
There might be a few more.
But these are the best 15 web safe fonts to choose from. Select one of these and you can’t go wrong.
1. Arial
Arial is like the de facto standard for most.
It’s one of the most widely used sans-serif fonts (which means no little curls at the end of each letter). It’s often substituted on Windows devices for other interesting (read: more beautiful) font choices.
2. Times New Roman
Times New Roman is to serif what Arial is to sans serif.
It’s among the most popular on Windows devices and is a new variation on the old Times font.
3. Times
The Times font probably looks familiar. It’s the old newspaper print that you’re used to seeing in a small size in narrow columns. It’s about as traditional as it gets.
4. Courier New
Courier New, similar to Times New Roman before it, is a variation of another old classic. It’s also considered a monospaced font (as opposed to the serif vs. sans serif we just saw).
5. Courier
Courier is the old monospace stand-by available on almost all devices and operating systems.
6. Verdana
Verdana is a true web font because (1) the simple sans serif lines and (2) it’s super-large size. The letters are almost elongated, which makes it easy to read online.
7. Georgia
Georgia is similar to Verdana in size and stature (with bigger-than-usual letters compared with fonts of the same size). So while it’s great for certain circumstances, make sure to avoid pairing this serif font with others (like Times New Roman) which might look minuscule in comparison.
8. Palatino
Palatino dates back to the Renaissance. Seriously! It’s another large font that makes it perfect for the web, traditionally used for headings and print-style ads.
9. Garamond
Garamond is another old-school font that dates back to styles used in 16th century Paris. This new and improved version was introduced and bundled on most Windows devices (and has been adopted by others since).
10. Bookman
Bookman (or Bookman Old Style) is another perfect headline option that maintains legibility (or readability) even when used in a small size.
11. Tahoma
Tahoma belongs to the sans-serif typeface. It was widely used as an alternative to Arial and was the default font of some of the earlier versions of Windows, such as Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003.
12. Trebuchet MS
Trebuchet is another sans-serif typeface, which got its name after a medieval siege machine with the same name. It was released in 1996 and is still one of the more popular body text fonts on the web.
13. Arial Black
Arial Black is the bigger, bolder, badder version of your basic Arial. Funny enough, it also shares proportions with Helvetica. Why is that important? So that they could originally use it to replace Helvetica and print things without paying for the license.
14. Impact
Impact is another bold headline choice that looks great in a few short words, but absolutely terrible in a sentence or longer.
15. Comic Sans MS
Comic Sans MS is a playful, whimsical alternative to other sans serif options.
It’s also kinda fugly. But on the upside, it is an easy font for dyslexic people to read.
Conclusion
Web-safe fonts give you a Plan B. A fallback option for when your first option might not work.
They’re widely accessible and have been available on most devices for decades (in some cases).
While not all of them are winners (Comic Sans MS), there are enough to choose from that should be closely related to your original option.
What happens if not? You can’t go wrong with Arial!
candace
Great article, thanks so much! Is the font used – Proxima Nova Soft – free for commercial use (i.e. websites)?
Thanks in advance.
Nick Schäferhoff
Hey Candace, no, you need to purchase a license to use it. You can find the new version of this font here: https://www.fonts.com/font/mark-simonson/proxima-soft
Valerie
This is really BAD advice because unless you specify fallback fonts in the stylesheet (and you aren’t telling people how), the browser will use whatever is the default for the browser/machine.
Better advice, on the web if you want to use something besides Arial or Times, use Google fonts (like Roboto) and enqueue them. Then in the stylesheet:
font-family: “Font You Like”, “Times New Roman”, Times, “Alternate System Font”, serif;
or
font-family: “Font You Like”, Arial, Helvetica, Tahoma, Calibri, Verdana, sans-serif;
or
font-family: “Font You Like”, “Zapf Chancery”, “Lucida Calligraphy” , script;
Nick Schäferhoff
Hey Valerie, thanks for pointing that out. I just gave it a try and Google Fonts actually includes a fallback font in the CSS automatically. However, your comment is still helpful for anyone who is not too familiar with CSS and fonts.
Ovi
What type of font are you using for this article?
Nick Schäferhoff
Funny enough, this is one of our frequently asked questions. The answer is “Proxima Nova Soft”.
kierra
Thanks, all of those are ugly lol, I need a font that’s cursive but is easy to read.
Nick Schäferhoff
In that case, this post might be the right one for you: https://websitesetup.org/custom-fonts-wordpress/
Anumeha
Hey I want to know the font name same as you used for this page (but it should have bit more spacing in between letters).
Nick Schäferhoff
Hey Anumeha, it’s called “Proxima Nova Soft”. For future reference, you can find that out for every website by opening the browser developer tools and examining the text in question. And thanks for the input about the letter spacing, we will take it under advisement 🙂
shan
Proxima Nova Soft .. can i get it from you ?
Nick Schäferhoff
You can find it here: https://fonts.adobe.com/fonts/proxima-soft
Stefan Koopmans
Or try something like Fount (https://fount.artequalswork.com), I use it every day, very helpful 🙂
Sharon
First, thank you WebsiteSetup Editorial for the insight and expert advice.
Second, I arrived here because I am tired of blocking fonts that are wrapped around stalkers and was looking for a way to avoid all external to-site-to-victim/visitor fonts but still see icons.
Blocking stalker-fonts means I miss most website icons too, which are replaced, as you’ve noted to some comments here, by stacked fonts.
An example is your ‘Search’ icon at the top right of this page is replaced by a small square outline, as are 10 other Fonts here. Also blocked are the facebook and googletagmanager.com stalkers.
Having said all that, I am confused as to why web sites even need to shove another bunch of fonts at us. I get it about the various devices each wanting to be masters of the universe, but as Google notes “Like any other asset, font files have to be downloaded to a site visitor’s computer before they can be displayed.” Why, when we already have dozens on our devices.
Kiddie-kewl fonts and bells and whistles may look cute and pretty but IMH, it cautions visitors that if the site needs all that bling, glitz, and glamour – what’s wrong with the product, services, or information?
Your site here is a good example of what a site should be like – almost. My browsers anti-stalker is preventing access to my privacy from 10 fonts – plus between Google and facebook; 3 stalkers but allowing 27 java scripts – so like I said almost 🙂
Great job helping others – I appreciate what you do and your info has helped me a lot.
~s~
Nick Schäferhoff
Hey Sharon, glad to be of help! Personally, I think there is nothing wrong with using custom fonts. Using different graphic assets is part of design and I like the possibilities that the numerous custom fonts give web designers. On the other hand, since users are generally getting more privacy conscious, it’s important to always have a fallback font for when the original typeface can not be displayed. Another possibility is to host the font files yourself so that no connection to Google or some other website is necessary. More information here: https://websitesetup.org/custom-fonts-wordpress/. Thanks for the comment!
AlexaFaie
For Comic Sans, you say that it is “fugly” and that you shouldn’t use it. However, it was created to be an easy to read font for dyslexic people because the letters are not easily confused for each other. For example, put a lower case d next to a lower case b and you’ll notice that even if you flip them horizontally, they don’t look quite the same. The “stalk” of the d is subtly curved, whereas the b is straight. Same with the p and q. There is also some deliberate padding between the letters to make them less likely to merge together for a dyslexic person
So whilst you might not like it aesthetically, its one of few fonts which were designed with accessibility for dyslexic people in mind. Another choice would be Dyslexie, however this is not a standard font so not websafe. It also isn’t free so not good for the vast majority of people who might need it. The license for a year is actually quite expensive when there are so many free to use fonts out there just for aesthetics rather than accessibility. Therefore comic sans is the way to go.
Nick Schäferhoff
Hey Alexa, thanks a lot for the info! I had no idea Comic Sans was made with that kind of purpose in mind. While I personally don’t find it aesthetically pleasing, I definitely see it in a different light now. Do you know of any other measures/fonts to make websites more accessible for dyslexic people? Thanks for the insightful comment!
Abair Heart
Some of us dyslexics have a problem with positioning, that are totally independent of the font in use. We swap letters because the dyslexia affects the link between intent and execution.
Nick Schäferhoff
Thanks for pointing that out. Again, if you have any additional tips on how to make websites and online content more dyslexic accessible, please don’t hesitate to share them!
No.
Just an important note for anyone reading this ‘information’:
Helvetica is NOT and has NEVER BEEN a standard or supplied Windows typeface.
I do not know why this person recommends helvetica as ‘web safe’. It is NOT ‘web safe’.
Do your research because websites such as this are responsible for spreading misinformation that will impact your user viewing experience without taking any responsibility for the act.
Nick Schäferhoff
Thanks for pointing that out, we have corrected the article accordingly.
afalcon
I think artists should be free to use Comic Sans MS when wishing to express free and whimsical character.
Nick Schäferhoff
Absolutely! We might have also taken the Comic Sans bashing a little too far in this post, seeing as how many people come to its rescue. Thanks for the comment!
Mitch
I’m pretty sure you misunderstand how webfonts work.
Selecting a font from Google fonts isn’t dependent on your OS already having that font, otherwise zero of them would work, and that would be a horribly unreliable service.
There hasn’t been any reason to worry about ‘web-safe’ fonts for the past 5 or 6 years. Any embed code from Google or TypeKit will have an appropriate fallback for the split-second FOUT caused by asynchronous stylesheet loading.
Jargon aside, I’d call all of this advice redundant.
Jack
I agree with Nick. Adblockers like uBlock Origin block fonts from loading, so I can’t use my fancy brand font without alienating the 60% of my users that use adblock. Setting a fallback “web-safe” font is still pertinent today, if not more so.
Nick Schäferhoff
Hey Mitch, I respectfully disagree. There are cases in which it makes sense to have a surefire fallback font. For example, in some areas of the world Google is blocked. So, if you have embedded Google fonts on your site, they will not load. To make sure your design still looks mostly the way you want to, setting a font that is present most computers is a good option.
MVR
Thank you for the article!
Arial may be superstar on many web-safe lists, but my pet-peeve with Arial is that the uppercase “i” (eye) and the lowercase L are almost indistinguishable. Try printing the auto-generated daily Guest-password with Arial, and your receptionist will have every visitor coming back complaining that password is bad – true story.
Nick Schäferhoff
Haha, I wasn’t aware of that. Looks like the deeper you dive into the topic of fonts, the more interesting it gets. Thanks for the anecdote!
Gracie S
Hi there, I would like to know what font you use in your headings? You used this font in your headings, such as ‘Conclusion’ thank you! Please reply asap as I am trying to set up a blog for my pet business :).
WebsiteSetup Editorial
Hi Gracie, it’s called Proxima Nova Soft 🙂
jules rosen
Great article with examples. I have found a list that show these basic fonts are installed with all systems
Arial
Courier
Georgia
Times New Roman
Trebuchet
MSVerdana
Stick with these and the result is faster web loading and readability
” To infinity and beyond” !!!
Nick Schäferhoff
Thanks for that, Jules!
Randall
> You can’t go wrong with Helvetica.
Actually, you can. It’s not included in the Windows operating systems, so the user’s browser will substitute a similar font, probably Arial, which looks almost the same. BUT, if the Windows user has a cheap knockoff of Helvetica among their fonts, it will use that. And sometimes look horrid.
So when specifying a font family, I suggest “Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif” in that order. The user’s browser will choose the first one on the list that is available to it, keeping both Windows and Mac displays looking good. On portable devices, … ah, but that’s another reply.
Nick Schäferhoff
Thanks for the detailed instructions, Randall! Much appreciated.