Do we need to capitalize font names in CSS/HTML?

I've been working through the HTML / CSS lessons on codecademy and I'm a little confused about capitalization. It instructs me to always capitalize the font names, but sometimes its own examples show them in lowercase. For instance, codecademy provides the following guidelines:

p {
    font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif;
}

and

h1 {
    font-family: Times, serif;
}

Why are Tahoma, Verdana, and Times capitalized while serif and sans-serif are lowercase? It seems inconsistent.

Thanks

Answer №1

serif and sans-serif are not specific font names; they represent general style defaults that will utilize the system's default font matching the specified type. Serifs refer to the decorative elements at the end of characters, while sans is derived from the French word meaning "without."

Answer №2

Verdana, Times, and Tahoma are more than just words on a page - they are living fonts with their own unique identities. These names stand out as proper nouns in the world of typography. On the other hand, serif and sans-serif are simply descriptive terms for different font styles, making them common nouns in comparison. While a font may fall into one of these categories, it doesn't define its individual name.

Answer №3

Actual font names like Tahoma, Verdana, and Times are specified for specific fonts, while serif and sans-serif act as placeholders representing the default serif and sans-serif fonts on the user's device. Typically, the default serif font is Times, while the default sans-serif font is Arial or Helvetica depending on the operating system.

If you want to use specific fonts in your webpage design, you should mention the font names. However, if you're not concerned about the fonts and prefer to rely on the user's default settings, you can simply use font-family: serif

Answer №4

The specific typeface is insignificant, with "Tahoma", "Verdana", and similar being classified as labels for distinct fonts, while "serif" and "sans-serif" are broad classifications referring to specific font styles.

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