What fonts are common to Windows, and RH/SUSE linux (HTML5)

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Paul_N
Propeller Head
Posts: 54
Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2015 5:57 am
Location: Yorkshire, UK

What fonts are common to Windows, and RH/SUSE linux (HTML5)

Post by Paul_N »

Hi. I'm producing HTML5 help with the Tripane skin. I've had a few issues with poor font substitution on SUSE linux. The CSS specifies Sans as the font family, and this works ok in Windows (Edge, Chrome, FF) and Red Hat linux (only tested on FireFox). But it's being substituted with a Times Roman looking font on SUSE linux (only tested on FireFox).

Does anyone know which sans serif fonts are 'safe' on both RH and SUSE linux?

Or has anyone got around such issues by installing a linux fornt to specify in the CSS? I assume this fix may incur font licensing costs though.
Psider
Propellus Maximus
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Joined: Wed Jul 06, 2011 1:32 am

Re: What fonts are common to Windows, and RH/SUSE linux (HTM

Post by Psider »

Arial and Helvetica are typically widespread, but the matter of "web safe fonts" is still fraught. CSS also provides a fall back generic keyword 'sans-serif' that *should* pick the default sans-serif font on whatever system is being used.

In CSS, you can specify font names that aren't actually installed on your computer. From memory you can manually type in the font-family field in Flare, although you might have to switch to advanced view to do so (it's been a while).

What you want is something like:
font-family: Sans, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;

That's the quick solution and "should" get you some sort of sans-serif font on any OS/browser/device, and wouldn't involve font installation or extra licensing costs.


Using @font-face and linking to fonts on the web (rather than installed) is kind of the way things are going, but that's another kettle of fish and gets in to licensing as well.
Paul_N
Propeller Head
Posts: 54
Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2015 5:57 am
Location: Yorkshire, UK

Re: What fonts are common to Windows, and RH/SUSE linux (HTM

Post by Paul_N »

Thanks Psider, that worked. I added sans-serif to the font-family in the CSS for tables and MainStyles and it now renders ok on both Windows and Linux.
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