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CSS fonts should be based on a generic font family to ensure an appropriate style font is rendered in any circumstances. Preferred font names should be declared in order of preference in a comma separated font family list tailored for specific platforms.

CSS font family: sans-serif

Sans serif fonts have a very regular, often geometrical shape with no serifs on the end of the letter strokes. Sans serif font faces are generally considered to have a simple, clean, modern font style that is reliable for the Web. Use the CSS font family name sans-serif.

The most common sans serif fonts

Key sans serif fonts common to all systems include Microsoft Arial, Arial Black, Trebuchet MS and Verdana, although their frequency on Unix family systems is quite low.

Helvetica is very common on Mac and Unix systems but not on Windows, where Arial is the closest equivalent. Avant Garde for Mac and Avantgarde for Unix are variants of the same font, not usually present on Windows. In this case, the closest match would be Century Gothic.

Lucida Grande for Mac, Lucida Sans Unicode for Windows and Lucida for Unix family systems are quite similar, though not particularly common.

Most common sans serif fonts on Windows systems to 7 November 2009
Font name Installed (%) Sample Image
Microsoft Sans Serif 99.67% 99.67% Text Image
Verdana 99.30% 99.30% Text Image
Tahoma 99.25% 99.25% Text Image
Arial 99.00% 99.00% Text Image
Trebuchet MS 98.90% 98.90% Text Image
Arial Black 98.49% 98.49% Text Image
Lucida Sans Unicode 98.04% 98.04% Text Image
Franklin Gothic Medium 97.87% 97.87% Text Image
Arial Narrow 88.55% 88.55% Text Image
Century Gothic 88.10% 88.10% Text Image
Vrinda 86.07% 86.07% Text Image
Kartika 85.90% 85.90% Text Image
MS Reference Sans Serif 70.22% 70.22% Text Image
Arial Unicode MS 61.98% 61.98% Text Image
Franklin Gothic Book 60.05% 60.05% Text Image
Franklin Gothic Medium Cond 59.73% 59.73% Text Image
Franklin Gothic Demi 59.45% 59.45% Text Image
Eras Demi ITC 59.40% 59.40% Text Image
Eras Light ITC 59.29% 59.29% Text Image
Franklin Gothic Demi Cond 57.92% 57.92% Text Image
Franklin Gothic Heavy 57.87% 57.87% Text Image
Calibri 53.58% 53.58% Text Image
Arial Rounded MT Bold 53.44% 53.44% Text Image
Candara 53.11% 53.11% Text Image
Corbel 53.01% 53.01% Text Image
Gill Sans Ultra Bold 52.08% 52.08% Text
Gill Sans MT 51.80% 51.80% Text
Gill Sans MT Condensed 51.37% 51.37% Text
Gill Sans MT Ext Condensed Bold 50.82% 50.82% Text
Eras Medium ITC 50.71% 50.71% Text
Gill Sans Ultra Bold Condensed 50.71% 50.71% Text
Eras Bold ITC 50.55% 50.55% Text
Tw Cen MT Condensed 50.38% 50.38% Text
Tw Cen MT 50.33% 50.33% Text
Tw Cen MT Condensed Extra Bold 50.11% 50.11% Text
Berlin Sans FB 47.49% 47.49% Text
Berlin Sans FB Demi 46.61% 46.61% Text
Lucida Sans 45.50% 45.50% Text Image
Segoe UI 44.04% 44.04% Text Image
Bitstream Vera Sans 21.69% 21.69% Text
Eurostile 20.82% 20.82% Text
Helvetica 7.27% 7.27% Text
Abadi MT Condensed Light 6.93% 6.93% Text Image
Univers 6.28% 6.28% Text
Verdana Ref 5.98% 5.98% Text
Kabel Ult BT 5.93% 5.93% Text
Helvetica Narrow 4.97% 4.97% Text
Abadi MT Condensed Extra Bold 3.99% 3.99% Text
News Gothic MT 3.93% 3.93% Text Image
Abadi MT Condensed 3.27% 3.27% Text
Optima 2.95% 2.95% Text
Gill Sans 2.40% 2.40% Text
Chicago 2.13% 2.13% Text
Geneva 2.02% 2.02% Text
Futura 1.37% 1.37% Text
Helvetica Neue 1.31% 1.31% Text
FIRSTHOME 0.89% 0.89% Text
04b_21 0.55% 0.55% Text
Gadget 0.16% 0.16% Text
Most common sans serif fonts on Mac systems to 7 November 2009
Font name Installed (%) Sample Image
Helvetica 99.16% 99.16% Text Image
Geneva 97.21% 97.21% Text Image
Lucida Grande 97.21% 97.21% Text Image
Arial 96.38% 96.38% Text Image
Verdana 95.26% 95.26% Text Image
Helvetica Neue 94.43% 94.43% Text Image
Arial Black 93.04% 93.04% Text Image
Trebuchet MS 93.04% 93.04% Text Image
Gill Sans 91.33% 91.33% Text Image
Futura 89.97% 89.97% Text Image
Optima 89.42% 89.42% Text Image
Arial Rounded MT Bold 89.14% 89.14% Text Image
Skia 89.14% 89.14% Text Image
Arial Narrow 88.58% 88.58% Text Image
Tahoma 74.93% 74.93% Text Image
Lucida Sans 62.54% 62.54% Text
Century Gothic 39.58% 39.58% Text Image
Charcoal 21.45% 21.45% Text Image
Chicago 20.61% 20.61% Text Image
Gadget 18.94% 18.94% Text Image
Abadi MT Condensed Light 18.02% 18.02% Text
News Gothic MT 18.02% 18.02% Text
Bitstream Vera Sans 15.19% 15.19% Text
Univers 14.29% 14.29% Text
Techno 13.43% 13.43% Text Image
Calibri 10.95% 10.95% Text
Berthold Akzidenz Grotesk BE 10.77% 10.77% Text
Corbel 10.60% 10.60% Text
Candara 9.54% 9.54% Text
Interstate 9.23% 9.23% Text
TradeGothic 7.69% 7.69% Text
ITC Franklin Gothic 6.15% 6.15% Text
Avenir 4.62% 4.62% Text
HelveticaNeue 4.62% 4.62% Text
Avant Garde 3.18% 3.18% Text
RotisSemiSans 3.08% 3.08% Text
Helvetica Narrow 0.35% 0.35% Text
Most common sans serif fonts on Unix systems to 7 November 2009
Font name Installed (%) Sample Image
URW Gothic L 96.32% 96.32% Text Image
Nimbus Sans L 92.69% 92.69% Text Image
DejaVu Sans 89.95% 89.95% Text Image
DejaVu Sans Light 88.46% 88.46% Text
Bitstream Vera Sans 83.74% 83.74% Text Image
DejaVu Sans Condensed 80.38% 80.38% Text
Lucida Sans 76.19% 76.19% Text Image
FreeSans 71.23% 71.23% Text Image
Liberation Sans 70.81% 70.81% Text
Arial 65.64% 65.64% Text Image
Verdana 59.82% 59.82% Text
Electron 59.62% 59.62% Text
Metal 59.62% 59.62% Text
Nice 59.62% 59.62% Text
Arial Black 59.20% 59.20% Text
Trebuchet MS 57.67% 57.67% Text
MgOpen Modata 34.93% 34.93% Text
MgOpen Moderna 34.45% 34.45% Text
MgOpen Cosmetica 33.97% 33.97% Text
Helvetica 31.29% 31.29% Text Image
Luxi Sans 31.17% 31.17% Text Image
Dustismo 23.08% 23.08% Text
Nimbus Sans L Condensed 17.22% 17.22% Text
DejaVu Sans Extra Light 13.40% 13.40% Text
Lucida 12.58% 12.58% Text Image
DejaVu LGC Sans 5.77% 5.77% Text
DejaVu LGC Sans Condensed 5.77% 5.77% Text
DejaVu LGC Sans Light 5.77% 5.77% Text
Vera Sans 5.26% 5.26% Text
Arial Narrow 0.95% 0.95% Text

Web font classification

Other CSS font family resources

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