On 2009/09/21 09:30 (GMT-0400) Rob Emenecker composed:
>> Windows special cases CSS requests for Helvetica. All
>> instances of helvetica in CSS are treated by the OS as if had
>> been written arial instead.
> That is not true. The OS uses Arial as a substitute if Helvetica is not
> present on the OS. However, if a font "named" Helvetica is present on the OS
> it will be used.
...
> I cannot speak to what specific browsers do, or what happens on the Mac, but
> I do know that Arial is NOT forced by the OS when Helvetica is specified and
> present on the system.
Yes, I forgot the present-on-the-system qualifier. Nevertheless, Helvetica is
not a standard Windows font, which means a user must find and install it to
see it, and AFAIK this seems to be a rather rare event - the overwhelming
majority of Windows-only web users will never see Helvetica rendered by their
web browsers.
Installing Safari on Windows installs some fonts (e.g. Lucida Grande), but
Helvetica is not among them. These additional fonts are not found by Gecko,
Opera or IE.
My main point was that Helvetica leading the the font-family rule stack
means, for the vast majority of Windows users, that families subsequent to
Helvetica in the stack will be ignored, and Arial will be what's used via the
OS substitution.
Another point of no small significance was the disregard of the browser
preference setting by IE and Safari when the only font in the CSS rule stack
is sans-serif.
--
"The Scriptures tell us righteousness exalteth a Nation."
2nd U.S. President, John Adams
Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409
Felix Miata *** http://fm.no-ip.com/
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