HTML <font> Tag

Suppose you want to change the font. That is done in a font tag by specifying a list of fonts for the "face" attribute. In a style, you provide a list to the "font-family" property.

Why a list? Because few fonts are available on all platforms and even fewer users have all fonts available on a platform. Consider one example.

I am writing on a Linux desktop that supports the excellent "FreeSans" typeface. Other Unix-workalikes may have the older Helvetica face. On Windows, Microsoft supplies its reliable Arial face. All browsers attempt to make a reasonable selection for the pseudo-font "sans-serif". So for a sans-serif font, I would specify:

In a <font> tag:
<font face="FreeSans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">

In a style:
selector { font-family:FreeSans, "Bitstream Vera Sans Mono", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif }

Always end your list with one of "serif" or "sans-serif" (these are proportional fonts) or "monospace" (for a fixed-width font).