The first 6 bits of fonts on this list are considered “web-safe” – they’re
supported by all major browsers on any platform. The fonts in the following 2
bits come pre-installed on most but not all systems. The fonts in the last 8
bits are mainly used for decorative purposes, and implemented on the Web as sIFR or saved as images.
- Helvetica, Helvetica Neue, Arial
Helvetica was created by Swiss designers 50 years ago, Helvetica is one of the most widely used sans-serif typefaces. Many well-known companies like American Airlines, Lufthansa, Toyota chose this font in their branding. There were so many variations of Helvetica that in 1983 Linotype released Helvetica Neue by redrawing the entire Helvetica family in a more structurally organized fashion. Many consider Arial, designed almost 30 years after Helvetica, to be a cheap imitation of Helvetica. But it turns out that Arial has more similarities with Univers than Helvetica.
- Verdana was designed specifically for Microsoft in 1996 with a
purpose of being readable at small sizes on a screen. The absence of serifs,
wide proportions and loose letter-spacing make this font extremely legible for
web sites.
- Georgia -another font that was ordered by Microsoft in 1993 which
bears lots of similarities with Times New Roman, but substantially larger. It
works really well at small and big sizes, and is often chosen by web designers
as a substitute to the so overused Times New Roman.
- Trebuchet MS – once again Microsoft steps in and orders another
“good web design font” in 1996. It works really well when used for big
headers.
- Century Gothic – a so-called “geometric” sans-serif font designed
in 1991, has many similarities with Avant Garde Gothic. It works well for the
headers, but I wouldn’t recommend to use this font for the large chunks of
body text.
- Lucida Sans Unicode, Lucida Grande – Lucida Grande is the font
that’s used throughout Mac OS, whereas Lucida Sans Unicode is a similar
Windows font. Both fonts belong to the “humanist” sans-serif type which is the
most calligraphic of all typefaces in the sans-serif family.
- Palatino – designed by Hermann Zapf in 1948 with an old style
typeface look inspired by the Renaissance. Decades later Microsoft distributed
a clear imitation of this font in a form of Book Antiqua originated by
Monotype.
- Garamond, Baskerville, Caslon – these are the oldest typefaces on
this list.
Garamond was commissioned for the French king in 1540 and was quickly adopted by many for printing. However, the modern version of this type was popularized by Apple. - Baskerville
– designed by John Baskerville in 1757 with an intention to improve the
legibility of Caslon typeface designed by William Caslon.
- Univers Condensed, Linotype Univers – Univers, often confused
with Helvetica, was designed by Adrian Frutiger in 1956. Frutiger is famous
for his unique typeface classification system. Univers is exceptionally
legible at great distances, that is why it was chosen by new Swiss
International Air Lines, Deutsche Bank and for the keycaps on many Apple
keyboards.
- Myriad Pro – designed specifically for Adobe Systems in early
nineties. Since 2002 Myriad has become Apple’s corporate font, replacing
Apple Garamond. Myriad works well both for print and web typography.
- Rockwell – falls under the slab serif classification, where “the
serifs are unbracketed and similar in weight to the horizontal strokes of the
letters”. It used primarily for the decorative purposes rather than for the
lengthy body text.
- Warnock Pro – named after John Warnock, the co-founder of Adobe
Systems Inc. It quickly became one of the most favorable typefaces designed in
the XXI century. It’s included with Adobe CS (which is really nice).
- FF DIN – “DIN” stands for “Deutsche Industrie Norm” translated as
German Industry Standard, it was designed in 1995 by a Dutch designer in
Hamburg – hence such a modern look.
- Gotham – another typeface designed in XXI century. Gotham’s
geometric forms and a large x-height make it extremely readable at small
sizes.
- Frutiger – another typeface designed by Adrian Frutiger, this
time he created it specifically for the newly built Charles De Gaulle
International Airport in 1968. Surprisingly, it took 7 years for the designer
to finally complete the work. Wikipedia states that “It is currently the
best-selling typeface of the Linotype foundry”.
- Dax Regular – one of the newest typefaces of the XXI century, but
it already became very popular in advertising and marketing. It’s extensively
used by UPS, it is also used in the branding of the New Democratic Party of
Canada (wow, smart move, NDP :-))
So here you go – hopefully you’ve enjoyed reading a bit of history on some of the most popular typefaces favoured by many modern web designers. What is your favourite font on this list? What other fonts you enjoy working with and why?