Understanding Browser Fonts in Web Design

Browser Safe Fonts

It is important to understand that when designing a website, web pages have a very limited selection of fonts available than a word processor does. There are actually only 4 main fonts that are safe to use for web pages and are installed on the virtually all browsers. It is best to use the following fonts to avoid web browser compatibility problems.

These fonts are:

• Times New Roman - This is an example of the Times font.
• Arial - This is an example of the Arial font.
• Helvetica - This is an example of the Helvetica font.
• Verdana - This is an example of the Verdana font.

Using text in web graphics

Text created in graphics programs like Photoshop and Fireworks have a wide variety of fonts available. These graphics can be used for headings and navigation buttons for web pages. Keep in mind, that search engines cannot search text in graphics, but only actual text in web pages. As a general rule of thumb, it is always best to limit the use of graphic images to display text because of this reason. Further, a web page loads much faster than one with a lot of graphics on it.

Graphic designed text images when used properly can greatly enhance the visual impact of a website. When doing so, however, it is important to add the text to the HTML Alt tags whenever possible. While search engines cannot index the content in graphics, they do use the text within the Alt tag to index information about the image.

By Global Link Technologies -- A Portland Web Design Firm

Click here to view graphic fonts available in Fireworks MX