Head First HTML with CSS

some fonts questions
Test driving Tony’s new fonts
Open the page with the new CSS in the browser and you
should see we’ve now got a nice set of sans-serif fonts.
Let’s check out the changes...
The font definitely gives Tony’s Web page a
new look. The headings now have a cleaner look
without the serifs on the letters, although they
still look a tad large on the page.
350 Chapter 9
The paragraph text is also
clean and very readable.
Because font-family is an inherited property,
all elements on the page are now using a
sans-serif font, even the list elements...
And if the serif fonts were more
your cup of tea, don’t let us stop you.
You can always redo the font-family
declaration to use serif fonts.
there are no
Dumb Questions
Q: How do I specify a font
with multiple words in the
name, like Courier New?
A: Just put double quotes
around the name in your fontfamily
declaration, like this:
font-family: “Courier New”,
Courier;
... and the s.
Q: So the font-family
property is really a set of
alternative fonts?
A: Yes. It’s basically a
priority list of fonts. The first is
the font you’d like used, followed
by a good substitute, followed by
more substitutes, and so on. For
the last font, you should specify
the catch-all generic “sans-serif”
or “serif”, which should be in the
same family as all the fonts in
your list.
Q: Are “serif” and “sansserif”
real fonts?
A: “serif” and “sans-serif”
are not the names of actual
fonts. However, your browser
will substitute a real font in
place of “serif” or “sans-serif” if
the other fonts before it in the
font-family declaration can’t be
found. The font used in its place
will be whatever the browser
has defined as the default font in
that family.
Q: How do I know which
to use? Serif or sans-serif?
A: There are no rules.
However, on a computer display,
many people consider sans-serif
the best for body text. You’ll
find plenty of designs that use
serif for body text, or mix serif
fonts with sans-serif fonts. So,
it really is up to you and what
kind of look you want your page
to have.