Continuing the sans-serif fonts, today I am addressing Verdana, Geneva, and Tahoma in terms of the web. Verdana is classified as a humanist font, and the only one of the aforementioned three found on both Windows and Mac operating systems (Tahoma was not bundled with Mac until OSX 10.5 [Leopard]).
Designed with a very tall x-height and meant to be read in small sizes on a screen, Verdana is a strong font to use for the main content on your project. Tahoma is extremely similar to Verdana, actually shaped by the same designer, Matthew Carter. The only real difference is that Tahoma is measurably narrower and less round than Verdana. Using Tahoma over Verdana will make your content feel more vertically centered and condensed. Geneva, found only on Macs, frequently gets lumped in with these fonts. Fact of the matter is, it is quite different from Verdana and Tahoma. It doesn’t have a true equivalent on the Windows platform, so I would avoid using it. However, if you are going to use it, the best backup for it in terms of render size and similarity is probably Verdana.
Why Choose Verdana/Tahoma/Geneva over Arial/Helvetica?
Every font is different. As a designer you must be aware of these sometimes subtle differences in order to make the best font choice for your website. Helvetica and Arial do tend to dominate the web sans-serif font-share, but in many instances Verdana would be a much better choice.
Verdana
Verdana and Tahoma are both humanist fonts whereas Helvetica and Arial are Grotesque. While the latter fonts are almost machined, meticulously crafted to be the “perfect” letter-forms, the humanist fonts allude more to the human hand with a varying line weight and a focus on legibility. While these things may not be directly noticable at a small size, believe it or not, in a large body of text, your font choice could be the difference between sending a cold, commercial, professional message or a warm, friendly vibe.
Tahoma
Being aware of the different fonts available to you will hopefully eliminate any random choosing when it comes to the type in your web work. If you posess knowledge of the fonts available and of the client you are working for, the choice should be obvious.
The next article will be about the fat-asses of the web fonts, so stay tuned.
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excelent article, informative and to the point.
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