BLHteacher | Resources

Typefaces

Internet Explorer and Netscape browsers let you change the font style in a text passage with the FACE attribute for the <font> tag.

The < FONT FACE > displayed by the browser depends on which fonts are available on the individuals user's system. The browser parses the list of font names, one after the other, until it matches one with a font name supported by the user's system. If none match, the text display defaults to the font style set by the user in their browser's perferences.

   For example:

   Arial, Helvetica, sans serif <font face="arial, helvetica, sans serif">
   Times, serif <font face="Times, serif">
   Verdana, sans serif <font face="Verdana, sans serif">
   Geneva, sans serif <font face="Geneva, sans serif">
   Courier <font face="Courier">
   Monaco <font face="Monaco">
   Braggadocio, Machine, Zapf Dingbats <font face="Braggadocio, Machine, Zapf Dingbats">

If the Interent Explorer user has the Braggadocio, Machine, or none of the listed font typefaces installed in their system, they will be able to read the "heaven only knows" message in the respective or default font style. Otherwise, the message will be garbled because the Zapf Dingbats font contains symbols, not letters. Of course, the alternative is true, too; you may intend that the message be a symbol encoded secret.