I have a CSS declaration like this:
font-family: font1, font2, font3;
where font1 is an embedded eot/ttf font, but the problem is that this font is smaller than the other fonts so I want to have a different font-size (1.8em) for this font (font1). All other fonts (font2, font3) stay untouched.
The problem is, that I cannot verify if the user's browser uses font1, font2 or font3. Is there any css declaration which allows different font-sizes for different families?
Thanks.
There is a way to do this, but it's as of now very badly supported. The CSS property you are looking for is font-size-adjust - a new CSS3 property introduced specifically to address this problem. The specification says:
In situations where font fallback
occurs, fallback fonts may not share
the same aspect ratio as the desired
font family and will thus appear less
readable. The font-size-adjust
property is a way to preserve the
readability of text when font fallback
occurs. It does this by adjusting the
font-size so that the x-height is the
same irregardless of the font used.
However, it is only supported in Firefox as of now, so you might want to look for alternatives.
For examples of how to use it, see:
http://webdesignernotebook.com/css/the-little-known-font-size-adjust-css3-property/
https://developer.mozilla.org/en/CSS/font-size-adjust
http://www.fonttester.com/help/css_property/font-size-adjust.html
http://www.w3.org/TR/css3-fonts/#relative-sizing-the-font-size-adjust-pro
I know it has been a while, but recently I stumbled upon the very same problem as described by the OP. As font-size-adjust is still very poorly supported, I'd like to share another solution that worked for me:
Note: The following solution does only work if the fonts are embedded using the #font-face-declaration.
In that case just include e.g.
size-adjust: 90%;
in your #font-face-declaration. The relevant font will appear at only 90% the size of the specified size.
Browser support
Browser support is currently at 74% with all major browsers supported except for Safari and IE. I know this is far from optimal. But as this problem is "just" about design and not about functionality, I suppose it is better than nothing.
Related
I have an – character that becomes invisible when the text is rendered at a smaller font size (the applicable font-size rule is 14px, at which it is invisible; if I zoom in one level in Firefox, it becomes visible.) I have only seen this behavior on Firefox on Windows. With Firefox on Linux, I see the character at all sizes. I believe that what happens is that at smaller sizes, the dash is allowed to render as a line of zero width. So the question is, how can I remedy this? Here's what I can think of -
Try a different dash character and hope for the best
wrap the dash in a span and force it to be bigger - seems clunky
maybe my font definition is broken - this is embedded Open Sans
any other approach I'm overlooking?
Don't use any of the legacy 90's Microsoft core fonts in Windows (Arial, Verdana, etc). They have very aggressive hints intended to prevent "fat" or "blurry" stems at all costs, that result in some of those stems disappearing at small sizes. Perpetuating the pixelated look Windows users were accustomed to was the only thing Microsoft cared about at the time (there are built-in workarounds in the Microsoft rendering stack to hide the bugs of those fonts, but they don't exist in third-party apps).
Have you tried a different font-family to see if it's showing the same problem?
This is a problem of fonts, not browser support. Try to use another font like "Times New Roman" to verify.
In the case of the small icons, the most reliable solution is to use the CSS #font-face rule to ask the browser to download a particular font. Then you'll know for sure that the user has an appropriate font installed. There are even some fonts designed specifically for this use, with extra icons built in: "Font Awesome" is a well-known example.
Please look here for more information: Does every browser support all unicode?
See images:
Firefox on Mac:
Firefox on Chrome:
On chrome you can see that the same font using the same styling takes more room. What can I do so that all browsers will render the font the same way rather than adding more width to it?
I am using a font with #font-face property.
Unfortunately, there isn't much you can do about the way each browser renders your chosen typeface. Check out this article, it explains how different browsers and operating systems render different type face files:
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2012/04/24/a-closer-look-at-font-rendering/
In the meantime, you can do two things.
1.) There are many fonts that can be used that are effected by this rendering difference much less. Experiment with different fonts that hold the same esthetic value of the font that you are using, and try to find one that not only fits your typographic needs but also have a less distinctive difference between their individual renderings across different platforms.
2.) Create a script to sense the user's browser/OS and use that script to adjust your font-weight accordingly.
Best of luck.
You forgot to mention which of the two cases is the correct font rendering.
A few ideas that come to mind:
Since you mentioned using font-weight:600 I would try to replace it with normal/bold (depending which result you want) and check if it makes any difference. If the font file does not support a weight for 600 the browser will go on interpreting it by itself - sometimes it takes bold sometimes normal.
If the problematic browser is Chrome you can also try playing with font-smoothing - sometimes it helps improving the font rendering:
-webkit-font-smoothing: none || antialiased || subpixel-antialiased
Also I'm not sure how you are implementing the #font-face - if you wrote it yourself I suggest generating your #font-face rule trough some service like Fontsquirell since it will generate a crossbrowser compatible code which often eliminates a few problems.
For more help you will need to expand your question with a bit more data - add the #font-face code, font name and specify which is the correct font rendering. Poor questions get poor answers.
I'd like to set different line-height for different fonts from a list fall-back fonts. For example:
body {
font-family: "Small x-height font", "Larger x-height font", sans-serif;
}
When the preferred Small x-height font is used, I'd like to set line-height to 1.3. When Larger x-height font is used because the preferred font is not available, I'd like to set line-height to 1.5. When both fonts are not available and the sans-serif fallback is used, I'd like to set line-height to normal.
Is this possible using CSS 2.1 or CSS 3 without resorting to JavaScript?
Rationale The problem is that different fonts have different x-height (the height of lowercase letters such as x relative to the font size). To make text with larger x-height look good, it must be set with a larger line height. The x-height of the default fonts (sans-serif in the example above) is unknown and may differ drastically from the x-height of the font of our choice. So a line height that looks good with our font may look ugly when the font failed to load.
I don't believe there is a way to do this in the exact way you are requesting.
However, I can tell you that if you are using a font service (eg Typekit), you may be able to style fallback fonts depending on whether the font has been loaded or not.
In Typekit's case, they add classes to the element when the font is loading, loaded, or inactive. They also provide classes for the specific fonts/weights.
You can then provide specific styling depending on the situation.
Here's a rough example:
body {
font: 400 16px/1.5 "typekit-font", "fallback-font";
}
.wf-inactive body {
font-weight: normal;
line-height: 1.8;
}
More information can be found in their corresponding help article.
There is a font-size-adjust property in CSS3 which addresses this problem. You can specify font-size-adjust: 0.6 for your body and all fonts will be transparently scaled to have the x-height of 0.6em. This has the additional benefit that you can combine fonts with different original x-height on the same line and they will have roughly the same lowercase letter size without the need to adjust font sizes manually.
Only Firefox implements font-size-adjust (as of November 2012). WebKit does not.
See the CSS3 Fonts specification for more information and David Baron's post for some examples.
In CSS, you cannot make the value of a property depend on the choice of a font. Basically, properties are independent of each other, with some exceptions that do not apply here.
Normally, fonts in a font-family list should be more or less similar in general characteristics. It’s not just a line-height matter. The choice of a font affects the page as a whole.
A different strategy is to use a downloadable font via #font-face. Then you can be reasonably sure that your font will be used, and you can set line height and other properties according to it.
Is it possible to set a different font-size according to font availability?
Currently my problem is that Verdana is too big, and if the user don't have Verdana installed, I will end up with a very small font-size
Is there is any way to set a font (Verdana in my case) to 13px and if the user don't have that font installed, try with another font (Arial for example) but with bigger font-size?
Notes:
Preferably CSS only
CSS hacks allowed
As was answered just a minute ago by someone else (but already deleted?), you could use Font Detector Javascript solution:
http://jsfiddle.net/FHnJw/1
This might take some work to implement (I have not ever actually done it myself), but it seems that the font-size-adjust property helps "equalize" font's by standardizing the x-height. See http://www.w3.org/TR/css3-fonts/#propdef-font-size-adjust for the official description.
Font-size adjust only works with Firefox
The standalone 'font' css declaration only allows you to state font-size, style and weight once before declaring the different font families in succession so that's a no-go either
I'm sorry to say this cannot be done through css alone
As for the JS alternative, here's the one I recommend:
http://www.lalit.org/lab/javascript-css-font-detect/
Good luck
I'm stuck with a problem. I'm trying to embed fonts with #font-face but they always looks bolder. I have tried everything: other fonts, change font-weight to "ligher" or "100" etc...
The font looks always as it is bolded. I'm pretty sure it could look good because I've seen it used in many other websites with #font-face and it looks thin and fine.
See the attached image link text (I know it would never look as in PS, but so different?)
thanks
Set the following in your stylesheet on whatever elements you are using font face on and it fixes the issue:
-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; /* This needs to be set or some font faced fonts look bold on Mac. */
You are probably using the wrong weight file. Fonts will often be sold in different weights. You should verify that the file you're embedding with #font-face is the right weight.
The way the font looks on photoshop is obviously a graphical version of the font, specially, when photoshop has 5 types of blurring for fonts: none, sharp, crisp, strong and smooth. Those beside the original fonts, which they commonly are in one TTF and have the versions inside or, varios fonts for the different weights and faces.
Maybe if you enlighten us about the font type, the weight, blurring and whatever is useful for reproducing purposes would be useful to help you...
Fonts vary according to OS (Linux, Mac,PC) and even by browser, never mind the Photoshop blurring variants that Billeeb mentioned. For example Safari on windows applies some heavy anti-aliasing to make text smooth, which makes it look blaringly different on Firefox, even on the same machine.
In my opinion, the best way to have a consistent font experience is to use some sort of font replacement technology like Cufon. But this only works for not standard fonts with simple effects, you wouldn't want to use this if you need crazy amounts of drop shadow or blurring. For that its best to stick with images
This could even happen if you are using <h1> tag. h tags makes the font looks bolder.