Is your chosen font web safe and available for use?

Description

When using custom fonts, using a one that is web safe means that more of your recipients will see your font on their device. If a font you use in your template is not installed on your recipients device, they will not see your font choice. Web safe fonts are installed across all operating systems, meaning that your recipients do not have to install your custom font to see your design properly. 

Finding a web safe font

The table below displays a list of the most commonly used fonts and devices/OS that they are or are not available on:

Using a custom font that is not web safe

If your chosen font is not available across all operating systems, you can create a font stack with a list of fallback fonts. Font stacks control how the font will appear to the recipient if they do not have access to your chosen fonts. Fallback fonts allow you to specify web safe alternatives to fall back on if needed. This allows you to control how the signature appears across all devices, as you can choose the most similar fallback font to your original font.

The following is an example of a font stack of fallback fonts:

Calibri, Candara, Segoe, Segoe UI, Optima, Arial, Sans-Serif

In this example, the initial font type is Calibri. If Calibri is not available to use, it will move onto Candara, and continue if necessary until it reaches Sans-Serif.

Always end the string with a generic font family name, as generic families can be shown on all devices. The following are examples of generic font families and their styles:

• Serif - uses serifs on letters. Examples include Times New Roman and Georgia.
• Sans-Serif - does not use serifs on letters. Examples include Arial and Helvetica.
• Monospace - all letters and characters are the same width. Examples include Lucida Console and Courier New.
• Cursive - designed to simulate handwritten lettering. Examples include Brush Script MT and Lucida Handwriting.
• Fantasy - decorative styles. Examples include Papyrus and Impact.