The font-family
CSS property specifies a prioritized list of one or more font family names and/or generic family names for the selected element.
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Values are separated by commas to indicate that they are alternatives. The browser will select the first font in the list that is installed or that can be downloaded using a @font-face
at-rule.
It is often convenient to use the shorthand property font
to set font-size
and other font related properties all at once.
You should always include at least one generic family name in a font-family
list, since there's no guarantee that any given font is available. This lets the browser select an acceptable fallback font when necessary.
The font-family
property specifies a list of fonts, from highest priority to lowest. Font selection does not simply stop at the first font in the list that is on the user's system. Rather, font selection is done one character at a time, so that if an available font does not have a glyph for a needed character, the latter fonts are tried. (However, this doesn't work in Internet Explorer 6 or earlier.) When a font is only available in some styles, variants, or sizes, those properties may also influence which font family is chosen.
Syntax
/* A font family name and a generic family name */ font-family: Gill Sans Extrabold, sans-serif; font-family: "Goudy Bookletter 1911", sans-serif; /* A generic family name only */ font-family: serif; font-family: sans-serif; font-family: monospace; font-family: cursive; font-family: fantasy; font-family: system-ui; font-family: ui-serif; font-family: ui-sans-serif; font-family: ui-monospace; font-family: ui-rounded; font-family: emoji; font-family: math; font-family: fangsong; /* Global values */ font-family: inherit; font-family: initial; font-family: unset;
The font-family
property lists one or more font families, separated by commas. Each font family is specified as either a <family-name>
or a <generic-name>
value.
The example below lists two font families, the first with a <family-name>
and the second with a <generic-name>
:
font-family: Gill Sans Extrabold, sans-serif;
Values
<family-name>
- The name of a font family. For example, "Times" and "Helvetica" are font families. Font family names containing whitespace should be quoted.
<generic-name>
-
Generic font families are a fallback mechanism, a means of preserving some of the style sheet author's intent when none of the specified fonts are available. Generic family names are keywords and must not be quoted. A generic font family should be the last item in the list of font family names. The following keywords are defined:
serif
- Glyphs have finishing strokes, flared or tapering ends, or have actual serifed endings.
E.g. Lucida Bright, Lucida Fax, Palatino, "Palatino Linotype", Palladio, "URW Palladio", serif. sans-serif
- Glyphs have stroke endings that are plain.
E.g. "Open Sans", "Fira Sans", "Lucida Sans", "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Trebuchet MS", "Liberation Sans", "Nimbus Sans L", sans-serif. monospace
- All glyphs have the same fixed width.
E.g. "Fira Mono", "DejaVu Sans Mono", Menlo, Consolas, "Liberation Mono", Monaco, "Lucida Console", monospace. cursive
- Glyphs in cursive fonts generally have either joining strokes or other cursive characteristics beyond those of italic typefaces. The glyphs are partially or completely connected, and the result looks more like handwritten pen or brush writing than printed letterwork.
E.g. "Brush Script MT", "Brush Script Std", "Lucida Calligraphy", "Lucida Handwriting", "Apple Chancery", cursive. fantasy
- Fantasy fonts are primarily decorative fonts that contain playful representations of characters.
E.g. Papyrus, Herculanum, Party LET, Curlz MT, Harrington, fantasy. system-ui
- Glyphs are taken from the default user interface font on a given platform. Because typographic traditions vary widely across the world, this generic is provided for typefaces that don't map cleanly into the other generics. This is example system-ui text.
ui-serif
- The default user interface serif font. This is example ui-serif text.
ui-sans-serif
- The default user interface sans-serif font. This is example ui-sans-serif text.
ui-monospace
- The default user interface monospace font. This is example ui-monospace text.
ui-rounded
- The default user interface font that has rounded features. This is example ui-rounded text.
math
- This is for the particular stylistic concerns of representing mathematics: superscript and subscript, brackets that cross several lines, nesting expressions, and double struck glyphs with distinct meanings. This is some example math text: axยฒ + bx + c = 0.
emoji
- Fonts that are specifically designed to render emoji. This is some example emoji text: โโพ.
fangsong
- A particular style of Chinese characters that are between serif-style Song and cursive-style Kai forms. This style is often used for government documents. This is some example fangsong text with the Chinese characters for "fangsong" in traditional and simple forms, respectively: ไปฟๅฎ้ซ ไปฟๅฎไฝ.
Valid family names
Font family names must either be given quoted as strings, or unquoted as a sequence of one or more identifiers. This means that punctuation characters and digits at the start of each token must be escaped in unquoted font family names.
For example, the following declarations are valid:
font-family: Gill Sans Extrabold, sans-serif; font-family: "Goudy Bookletter 1911", sans-serif;
The following declarations are invalid:
font-family: Goudy Bookletter 1911, sans-serif; font-family: Red/Black, sans-serif; font-family: "Lucida" Grande, sans-serif; font-family: Ahem!, sans-serif; font-family: test@foo, sans-serif; font-family: #POUND, sans-serif; font-family: Hawaii 5-0, sans-serif;
Formal definition
Initial value | depends on user agent |
---|---|
Applies to | all elements. It also applies to ::first-letter and ::first-line . |
Inherited | yes |
Computed value | as specified |
Animation type | discrete |
Formal syntax
[ <family-name> | <generic-family> ]#where
<family-name> = <string> | <custom-ident>+
<generic-family> = serif | sans-serif | cursive | fantasy | monospace
Examples
Some common font families
.serif { font-family: Times, Times New Roman, Georgia, serif; } .sansserif { font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; } .monospace { font-family: Lucida Console, Courier, monospace; } .cursive { font-family: cursive; } .fantasy { font-family: fantasy; } .emoji { font-family: emoji; } .math { font-family: math; } .fangsong { font-family: fangsong; }
<div class="serif"> This is an example of a serif font. </div> <div class="sansserif"> This is an example of a sans-serif font. </div> <div class="monospace"> This is an example of a monospace font. </div> <div class="cursive"> This is an example of a cursive font. </div> <div class="fantasy"> This is an example of a fantasy font. </div> <div class="math"> This is an example of a math font. </div> <div class="emoji"> This is an example of an emoji font. </div> <div class="fangsong"> This is an example of a fangsong font. </div>
Specifications
Specification | Status | Comment |
---|---|---|
CSS Fonts Module Level 4 The definition of 'generic font families' in that specification. |
Working Draft | Adds new generic font families, specifically: system-ui , ui-serif , ui-sans-serif , ui-monospace , ui-rounded , emoji , math , and fangsong . |
CSS Fonts Module Level 3 The definition of 'font-family' in that specification. |
Candidate Recommendation | No significant change |
CSS Level 2 (Revision 1) The definition of 'font-family' in that specification. |
Recommendation | No significant change |
CSS Level 1 The definition of 'font-family' in that specification. |
Recommendation | Initial definition |
Browser compatibility
Desktop | Mobile | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
font-family | Chrome Full support 1 | Edge Full support 12 | Firefox
Full support
1
| IE Full support 3 | Opera Full support 3.5 | Safari Full support 1 | WebView Android Full support 1 | Chrome Android Full support 18 | Firefox Android Full support 4 | Opera Android Full support 10.1 | Safari iOS Full support 1 | Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0 |
system-ui | Chrome Full support 56 | Edge Full support 79 | Firefox
No support
No
| IE No support No | Opera Full support 43 | Safari
Full support
9
| WebView Android Full support 56 | Chrome Android Full support 56 | Firefox Android No support No | Opera Android Full support 43 | Safari iOS
Full support
9
| Samsung Internet Android Full support 6.0 |
Legend
- Full support
- Full support
- No support
- No support
- See implementation notes.
- See implementation notes.
- Uses a non-standard name.
- Uses a non-standard name.