On Wed, 02 Aug 2017 06:26:13 -0700 pe...@easthope.ca wrote: > I want to specify a variable pitch font in a wiki. The font should be > widely available and acceptable to commonly used browsers. > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arial explains, "It [Arial] was created > to be metrically identical to the popular typeface Helvetica, with > all character widths identical, so that a document designed in > Helvetica could be displayed and printed correctly without having to > pay for a Helvetica license." That suggests that Arial is a good > choice. Conversely, font substitution appears to be handled well in > many contexts and licensing might no longer be a concern. > > What is the conclusion. Should I specify, Arial or Helvetica or > something else? >
Does your wiki software require one specific named font, without allowing you to tweak the CSS for it if you wish? Does it not have a 'sans-serif' value available, which will call for a browser to use its default sans-serif font? If you can customise the CSS for the text elements, you can specify multiple font families in order of preference e.g. font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, serif; Incidentally, serifs were invented to make blocks of text easier to read, so Times or similar would be a better choice for paragraphs, with a sans-serif font more suited to bold headings. Newspaper sites (not surprisingly including The Times) use serif fonts. -- Joe
