CSS3 Fonts

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The CSS3 @font-face Rule

Before CSS3, web designers had to use fonts that were already installed on the user's computer.

With CSS3, web designers can use whatever font he/she likes.

When you have found/bought the font you wish to use, include the font file on your web server, and it will be automatically downloaded to the user when needed.

Your "own" fonts are defined in the CSS3 @font-face rule.

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Browser Support

Property	Browser Support
@font-face

Internet Explorer 9+, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Opera support the WOFF (Web Open Font Format) font.

Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Opera also support fonts of type TTF (True Type Fonts) and OTF (OpenType Fonts).

Chrome, Safari and Opera also support SVG fonts/shapes.

Internet Explorer also supports EOT (Embedded OpenType) fonts.

Note: Internet Explorer 8 and earlier versions, do not support the @font-face rule.

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Using The Font You Want

In the new @font-face rule you must first define a name for the font (e.g. myFirstFont), and then point to the font file.

	Tip: Use lowercase letters for the font URL. Uppercase letters can give unexpected results in IE.

To use the font for an HTML element, refer to the name of the font (myFirstFont) through the font-family property:

Example

<style>
@font-face
{
font-family: myFirstFont;
src: url(sansation_light.woff);
}

div
{
font-family:myFirstFont;
}
</style>

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Using Bold Text

You must add another @font-face rule containing descriptors for bold text:

Example

@font-face
{
font-family: myFirstFont;
src: url(sansation_bold.woff);
font-weight:bold;
}

The file "Sansation_Bold.woff" is another font file, that contains the bold characters for the Sansation font.

Browsers will use this whenever a piece of text with the font-family "myFirstFont" should render as bold.

This way you can have many @font-face rules for the same font.

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CSS3 Font Descriptors

The following table lists all the font descriptors that can be defined inside the @font-face rule:

Descriptor	Values	Description
font-family	name	Required. Defines a name for the font
src	URL	Required. Defines the URL of the font file
font-stretch	normal condensed ultra-condensed extra-condensed semi-condensed expanded semi-expanded extra-expanded ultra-expanded	Optional. Defines how the font should be stretched. Default is "normal"
font-style	normal italic oblique	Optional. Defines how the font should be styled. Default is "normal"
font-weight	normal bold 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900	Optional. Defines the boldness of the font. Default is "normal"
unicode-range	unicode-range	Optional. Defines the range of UNICODE characters the font supports. Default is "U+0-10FFFF"