Fonts common to all (current) versions of Windows and their Mac equivalents

Introduction

This list lists fonts that are common to all currently relevant Windows operating systems (actually starting with Windows 98), and their equivalents in Mac OS. Such fonts are sometimes called “ browser safe fonts ” ( browser safe fonts ). This is a small reference book that I use when I make Web pages and I think that it will be useful for you too.

If you are new to web design, then maybe you think something like: “Why should I be limited to such a small set of fonts? I have a huge collection of beautiful fonts! ”The fact is that the visitor’s browser can display only those fonts that are installed in its operating system ( translator’s note: now you can use virtually any fonts when styling pages using CSS 3 and its new property @ font-face ; however, not all browsers support this feature yet), which means that every visitor to your page should be the owner of the fonts you have chosen. Therefore, you should use only the fonts that are in each operating system. Fortunately, CSS has the @ font-family property, which makes this easier.

You may also be interested in the list of fonts included in each version of Windows .

List

@ Font-family value	Windows	Mac	Family
Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif	Arial	Arial, Helvetica	sans serif
"Arial Black", Gadget, sans-serif	Arial black	Arial Black, Gadget	sans serif
"Comic Sans MS", cursive	Comic sans ms	Comic Sans MS ⁵	cursive
"Courier New", Courier, monospace	Courier new	Courier New, Courier ⁶	monospace
Georgia, serif	Georgia ¹	Georgia	serif
Impact, Charcoal, sans-serif	Impact	Impact ⁵ , Charcoal ⁶	sans serif
"Lucida Console", Monaco, monospace	Lucida Console	Monaco ⁵	monospace
"Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Grande", sans-serif	Lucida Sans Unicode	Lucida grande	sans serif
"Palatino Linotype", "Book Antiqua", Palatino, serif	Palatino Linotype, Book Antiqua ³	Palatino ⁶	serif
Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif	Tahoma	Geneva	sans serif
"Times New Roman", Times, serif	Times new roman	Times	serif
"Trebuchet MS", Helvetica, sans-serif	Trebuchet MS ¹	Helvetica	sans serif
Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif	Verdana	Verdana, Geneva	sans serif
Symbol	Symbol ²	Symbol ²	-
Webdings	Webdings ²	Webdings ²	-
Wingdings, "Zapf Dingbats"	Wingdings ²	Zapf Dingbats ²	-
"MS Sans Serif", Geneva, sans-serif	MS Sans Serif ⁴	Geneva	sans serif
"MS Serif", "New York", serif	MS Serif ⁴	New York ⁶	serif

¹ Georgia and Trebuchet MS fonts come with Windows 2000 / XP and are included in the IE font pack (and they come with many Microsoft applications), so they are installed on many computers running Windows 98.
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² Symbol fonts are displayed only in Internet Explorer, in other browsers they are usually replaced with a standard font (although, for example, the Symbol font is displayed in Opera, and Webdings in Safari).

³ The Book Antiqua font is almost identical to the Palatino Linotype; Palatino Linotype comes with Windows 2000 / XP, and Book Antiqua comes with Windows 98.

⁴ Please note that these fonts are not TrueType, but a bitmap, so they may look bad with some sizes (they are intended to be displayed in sizes 8, 10, 12, 14, 18 and 24 pt at 96 DPI).

⁵ These fonts work in Safari only in standard style, but do not work when it is bold or italic. Comic Sans MS also works in bold, but not in italics. Other Mac browsers seem to normally emulate absent font properties on their own (thanks to Christian Fecteau for the hint).

⁶ These fonts are installed on a Mac only with a Classic installation.