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Should I use Tahoma in webdesign? If I couldn't opt for anything different (i.e. because the designer used it in his design), with which fonts could I make an stack of replacement fonts in a CSS stylesheet?

Jason Aller
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eKek0
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9 Answers9

48

Tahoma's fine. Good replacements are Geneva and Verdana, with a generic sans-serif for backup. Better CSS Font Stacks is a great resource for suggesting these kinds of things.

If you're working with a designer who wants to use certain fonts, make sure s/he understands that very few fonts are web-safe sooner rather than later. It'll save you from some headache down the road.

KIR
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Sam DeFabbia-Kane
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    +1 for the "font stacks" link. The PDF linked in the page is great. Huge, but great. – Rob Allen Sep 03 '09 at 00:13
  • I'll second this. Link is broken. – CF_HoneyBadger Jul 10 '14 at 19:12
  • Link replaced, and [here](http://artequalswork.com/uploads/BetterFontStacks.pdf) is a direct link to [the pdf](http://artequalswork.com/uploads/BetterFontStacks.pdf). Do check out http://www.cssfontstack.com/ as well. – iolsmit Feb 18 '15 at 19:44
  • Tahoma is not available in Linux desktops and is usually rendered as Times New Roman, which is not the best replacement for this font. It is not part of "Core Fonts for the web" so it is very likely that it will be missing on non Windows browsers. – SWilk Apr 04 '19 at 13:30
14

It depends on what you mean by "safe".

If you mean that a majority of the users have the font, and that you can pick a reasonable alternative for the rest, then it's safe.

If you mean that everyone should be able to view the page exactly as you see it, then it's not safe. Actually no font is safe, except the default fonts in CSS. That's why you should always provide alternative fonts as backup, and always provide a default font as the last resort. Example:

font-family: Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;

Note that even if the user has the Tahoma font, it will not always render exactly the same. The user can have different settings for font smoothing, which greatly affects how the font is rendered. There may also be slight differences in kerning and hinting for different versions of the same font.

If you need some text to look exactly the same all the time, the only option is to make an image out of it.

Guffa
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  • That's usually the string of fonts I used, except I replace Helvetica with Verdana. – Cᴏʀʏ Sep 02 '09 at 23:19
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    @Cory: Verdana is an MS-only font, so I suggest that you add the more generic Helvetica font after it for the non-MS operating systems. – Guffa Sep 02 '09 at 23:22
  • Yes, I mean safe like 'a majority of the users have the font'. But, as not all users will have the font, I wanted to know with wich font's should I replace Tahoma to make the design look 'almost' every time. – eKek0 Sep 02 '09 at 23:22
  • @eKeK0: Arial/Helvetica is reasonably similar to Tahoma to use as a backup. They are not quite as narrow as Tahoma, but close enough. (Verdana is wider so it could cause some problems for your design.) – Guffa Sep 02 '09 at 23:31
  • This worked PERFECT. I inhereted a website that broke only on linux, and this solution was PERFECT :-) – WhyNotHugo Oct 14 '10 at 13:27
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According to the Code Style Font Family Survey, Tahoma is available on about 98% of Windows and 74% of Macintosh systems.

Their Build Better CSS Font Stacks page lists common stacks organized by category. They also have a Font Stack Builder that tells you the likelihood of a visitor seeing a particular font in the stack.

Selene
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I think it is quite a safe font to use. Others that are popular are Verdana and Arial. Times New Roman is also popular, but it's a Serif font, so it's not so nice for a monitor.

Added: While browsing through Wikipedia about this font, I found a link to a nice long-running survey about most available fonts for all platforms. Check it out: http://www.codestyle.org/css/font-family/sampler-CombinedResults.shtml

Vilx-
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  • +1 - You don't know how horrible Times New Roman's Serif-ness is until you use something else. – Fiarr Sep 02 '09 at 23:17
  • Your answer will be 100% right if you are restricted only to Windows platforms, as Arial is a substitute to the Apple's Helvetica font. – Rodrigo Sep 02 '09 at 23:17
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my 2 cents: Tahoma is not included by default on many Linux distros (like Ubuntu, Mint) and it's a pain in the ass to install it. So it's not so safe to use Tahoma.

Max
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The fact is that NO font alone is is safe for all computers, and all browsers.

Get the idea of "Web Safe Fonts" out of your head. You should NEVER write a website depending on a single font. The only safe way is to write a series of fallback in the CSS. For instance: "font-family: Tohoma, Helvetica, Sans-Serif, Proportional"

For instance: Many Android tablets ship with ONLY Droid Sans and Droid Serif, these are more than capable of displaying any webpage designed with the W3 recommendation of having a last default of "Sans-Serif", "Proportional" or "Serif", and make sure you test your webpage layout forcing a variety of fonts into that default.

Many browsers allow you to embed fonts, but older browsers do not support this so you can't depend on it. However, this is an excellent option to increase the base that can view your page in it's optimal layout.

As for anyone implying that Linux and other Alternative Operating Systems are not a consideration: These Operating Systems holds 5% of the desktop market, and 20% of the mobile market. Now if your website receives a million desktop users that is 5,000 users you are BREAKING your website's layout on just because you thought it would be "convenient" to depend on Tahoma's font size. I would like to see you try to explain that to your boss.

Additionally, Linux has been increasing in market share recently, not decreasing. As have Specialty Linux Hybrid platforms like Android, Chrome OS, Xandros, WebOS, and BadaOS

Robert Wm Ruedisueli
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  • This comment is still relevant in 2023. Relying on a single fallback font will come back to bite your CLS riddled self on devices without that "web safe" font. – FranCarstens Jul 06 '23 at 15:52
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Tahoma is safely enough as almost all the modern operating systems support that font. But if your site targets users with old non-windows operating systems, you must consider another stylesheet to support them.

Rodrigo
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0

Thomha is mostly websafe, however you could use Verdana as most of the characters are the same as thomha cept the spacing is a little different. So having that second on your stack should help.

Cheers,

Jamie

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Tahoma is not used on iOS devices, so if you have a mobile first approach it may be not the best choice. Otherwise you have to buy it as webfont and include it to your project. Since its not on GoogleFonts you really have to buy it (as far is i know).

Regards Daniel

d8ta
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