Skip to main content

CSS Font

Difference Between Serif and Sans-serif Fonts

Serif vs. Sans-serif Remark On computer screens, sans-serif fonts are considered easier to read than serif fonts.

CSS Font Families

In CSS, there are two types of font family names:
  • generic family - a group of font families with a similar look (like "Serif" or "Monospace")
  • font family - a specific font family (like "Times New Roman" or "Arial")
Generic family Font family Description
Serif Times New Roman
Georgia		 Serif fonts have small lines at the ends on some characters
Sans-serif Arial
Verdana		 "Sans" means without - these fonts do not have the lines at the ends of characters
Monospace Courier New
Lucida Console		 All monospace characters have the same width

Font Family

The font family of a text is set with the font-family property.
The font-family property should hold several font names as a "fallback" system. If the browser does not support the first font, it tries the next font.
Start with the font you want, and end with a generic family, to let the browser pick a similar font in the generic family, if no other fonts are available.
Note: If the name of a font family is more than one word, it must be in quotation marks, like font-family: "Times New Roman".
More than one font family is specified in a comma-separated list:

Example

p{font-family:"Times New Roman", Times, serif;}

Try it yourself »
For more commonly used font combinations, look at our Web Safe Font Combinations.

Font Style

The font-style property is mostly used to specify italic text.
This property has three values:
  • normal - The text is shown normally
  • italic - The text is shown in italics
  • oblique - The text is "leaning" (oblique is very similar to italic, but less supported)

Example

p.normal {font-style:normal;}
p.italic {font-style:italic;}
p.oblique {font-style:oblique;}

Try it yourself »

Font Size

The font-size property sets the size of the text.
Being able to manage the text size is important in web design. However, you should not use font size adjustments to make paragraphs look like headings, or headings look like paragraphs.
Always use the proper HTML tags, like <h1> - <h6> for headings and <p> for paragraphs.
The font-size value can be an absolute, or relative size.
Absolute size:
  • Sets the text to a specified size
  • Does not allow a user to change the text size in all browsers (bad for accessibility reasons)
  • Absolute size is useful when the physical size of the output is known
Relative size:
  • Sets the size relative to surrounding elements
  • Allows a user to change the text size in browsers
Remark If you do not specify a font size, the default size for normal text, like paragraphs, is 16px (16px=1em).

Set Font Size With Pixels

Setting the text size with pixels, gives you full control over the text size:

Example

h1 {font-size:40px;}
h2 {font-size:30px;}
p {font-size:14px;}

Try it yourself »
The example above allows Firefox, Chrome, and Safari to resize the text, but not Internet Explorer.
The text can be resized in all browsers using the zoom tool (however, this resizes the entire page, not just the text).

Set Font Size With Em

To avoid the resizing problem with Internet Explorer, many developers use em instead of pixels.
The em size unit is recommended by the W3C.
1em is equal to the current font size. The default text size in browsers is 16px. So, the default size of 1em is 16px.
The size can be calculated from pixels to em using this formula: pixels/16=em

Example

h1 {font-size:2.5em;} /* 40px/16=2.5em */
h2 {font-size:1.875em;} /* 30px/16=1.875em */
p {font-size:0.875em;} /* 14px/16=0.875em */

Try it yourself »
In the example above, the text size in em is the same as the previous example in pixels. However, with the em size, it is possible to adjust the text size in all browsers.
Unfortunately, there is still a problem with IE. When resizing the text, it becomes larger than it should when made larger, and smaller than it should when made smaller.

Use a Combination of Percent and Em

The solution that works in all browsers, is to set a default font-size in percent for the body element:

Example

body {font-size:100%;}
h1 {font-size:2.5em;}
h2 {font-size:1.875em;}
p {font-size:0.875em;}

Try it yourself »
Our code now works great! It shows the same text size in all browsers, and allows all browsers to zoom or resize the text!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

GK MCQs and facts

KNOWLEDGE Knowledge is a familiarity with someone or something, which can include information, facts, descriptions, and/or skills acquired through experience or education. It can refer to the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject. It can be implicit (as with practical skill or expertise) or explicit (as with the theoretical understanding of a subject); and it can be more or less formal or systematic.In philosophy, the study of knowledge is called epistemology, and the philosopher Plato famously defined knowledge as "justified true belief." There is however no single agreed upon definition of knowledge, and there are numerous theories to explain it.  Knowledge acquisition involves complex cognitive processes: perception, learning, communication, association and reasoning; while knowledge is also said to be related to the capacity of acknowledgment in human beings. source : wiki Knowledge - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia A series of MCQs on GK  ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra review

  Introduction Now that the Pro moniker has gone mainstream, it's Ultra that has come to represent the cream of the crop, and the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra can wear that badge proudly. Limited to its home market last year, the ultimate Mi has gone global this time around, and we're happy to have it for review today. We're torn whether it's the camera system's physical appearance that is more striking or the hardware inside. A simply massive raised area on the back looks bolted on, almost after the fact, it's hard to miss, and it's a great conversation starter even if it's not everyone's cup of tea. But its size is warranted - the main camera packs the largest sensor used on a modern-day smartphone, and next to it - two more modules unmatched in their own fields, in one way or another. Oh, and yes, there's also a display here - because why not, but also because it can be useful. There's a lot more than 1.1 inches of ...
Post a Comment
Read more

TCP/IP Introduction

Computer Communication Protocol A computer communication protocol is a description of the rules computers must follow to communicate with each other. What is TCP/IP? TCP/IP is the communication protocol for communication between computers on the Internet. TCP/IP stands for T ransmission C ontrol P rotocol / I nternet P rotocol. TCP/IP defines how electronic devices (like computers) should be connected to the Internet, and how data should be transmitted between them.
Post a Comment
Read more