Downloading Special Fonts to View Web Pages?

A common design error by most newbie web designers is to ask their site visitors to download a special font so their visitors can view the web page correctly or to unknowingly format their web pages with a cool font they like. To understand why this is high on the "No-No" list, we first need to explain about fonts.

A quick and easy design rule to remember is that if a font is not installed on a computer it will not be viewable on a web page "unless" the font font has been embedded into a graphic image (or is installed on the computer viewing the page). In order words, if you type all your web page text and format it with the font face, Brushstroke, and your visitor does not have this font installed on their computer, they will not see it. What they will see instead is your web page using the font face which is set as the default font on their system. Hmmm ... So why is it wrong to ask them to download the font which they don't have?

This might have been the practice many, many years ago when the web was new. But security is a very important issue online today. No one wants to download any mystery file especially one that installs in their Windows directory. Of course, if for some reason you want your site visitors to leave quickly, then ask them to install a special font. :) Seriously.

If you want all of your site visitors to see a special font, you need to embedded the special font into a graphic image (.gif, .jpg) such as the example to the right. If you have the font face, Brushstroke, installed on your computer than you likely see it formatted into the text of this document too (second paragraph above).

One word of caution. Do not make large images with your web page text using your special font. Yes, we have seen this happen. This "No-No" will also cause your visitors to leave fast.

So what fonts should you use and how? Use default fonts which are installed on any Windows or Mac system in your web pages. Use those special fonts only for your images (ex. buttons, titles, subtitles, etc.). How to use fonts in your web pages is simple: CSS (cascading style sheets). You do not have to be a web design guru to understand CSS. Many new webmasters find it intimating. But if you start out learning web design properly (HTML with CSS) instead of just HTML, you will quickly get past any small learning curve. There is nothing scarey about CSS. It is quite easy to understand especially when learning the basics.