Forum Moderators: open
Common fonts on Windows systems [codestyle.org] to 22 February 2003
92.95% Arial Black
92.38% Comic Sans MS
91.96% Impact
91.68% Verdana
91.54% Arial
91.40% Courier New
90.83% Tahoma
Common fonts on Mac systems [codestyle.org] to 22 February 2003
97.18% Monaco
95.77% Helvetica
94.37% Verdana
93.66% Courier
92.96% Geneva
92.39% Arial Black
92.25% Arial
91.55% Comic Sans MS
Thank you very much for posting that. I guess I should have found that post by using the search function.
I went to codestyle.org and looked at the list, but it didn't seem quite kosher. The list is telling us that more Windows computers have Comic Sans and Impact than have Arial and Times New Roman.
Arial and Times New Roman where the standard fonts that have come free with every version of Windows since 3.1.(Remember Windows 3.1? I do.) So clearly there has to be something wrong if they are telling us that 21.6% of Windows computers don't have Times New Roman.
So I looked more carefully at the codestyle.org methodology, and discovered that the installed font list is based simply on a poll on their website that anyone can fill out. Which means the results aren't too reliable, because the person browsing the codestyle.org website isn't the typical web user.
And the reason why Times New Roman comes up so low is because the poll asks you to compare the default font to a bunch of other fonts and check the checkbox if it is different. Since most people have Times New Roman set as the default, I guess they don't see a difference between the default font and Times New Roman and don't check the box.
The more a font is different from Times New Roman, the more likely it is to get checked. Arial Black and Comic Sans look obviously different from Times New Roman. The difference between Times New Roman and Garamond is a lot more subtle, and many might not notice.
Microsoft lists the core fonts they recommend for the web that are supposedly on everyone's computer: Recommended fonts [microsoft.com]. I guess we can just count on those fonts always being there, although Microsoft warns that some people might delete fonts from their system. (Why would anyone want to delete Comic Sans?)
According to codesyle, these Microsoft core fonts seem just as prevalent on Mac computers. I guess Apple is nice enough to include them so as not to ruin their users' web browing experience.
I was reading a book yesterday on Web Typography, and the author recommends only using Times New Roman, Georgia, Verdana, Arial, and Courier New because she said other fonts might not be installed. I guess she is wrong, according to Microsoft, Impact, Comic Sans, Trebuchet, and Webdings are also on everyone's computer.
h1 {
font-family: "Comic Sans", Arial, sans-serif;
}
so if people don't have Comic Sans your site will still be readable.
