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Proposed system font stacks
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<h1>Proposed system font stacks</h1>
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<div id="article-date">2024-12-27</div>
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<p class="tags">
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<a href="/index/web.html" class="tag">web</a>
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<a href="/index/typography.html" class="tag">typography</a>
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<a href="/index/fonts.html" class="tag">fonts</a>
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<a href="/index/css.html" class="tag">css</a>
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<a href="/index/design.html" class="tag">design</a>
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<p>I've seen <a href="https://modernfontstacks.com/">Modern Font Stacks</a>. I agree that there are many cases
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where system fonts are fine, but the stacks there have some problems, especially with GNU/Linux
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devices.
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</p><p>On GNU/Linux, there are usually two sets of metrically-compatible Microsoft font clones:
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Liberation and GNU FreeFont. They have a huge difference. Liberation are original designs, but
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not very good ones. FreeFont are descended from TeX fonts, so they look almost exactly like
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Helvetica, Times and Courier.
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</p><h2>The stacks</h2><h3>GUI</h3><pre data-language="">system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Roboto, "Noto Sans", "Segoe UI", Inter, Cantarell,
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Ubuntu, "DejaVu Sans", "Bitstream Vera Sans", "Sans", "Helvetica Neue", "Helvetica",
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"Lucida Grande", sans-serif
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</pre><p>These fonts are used by the OS and designed to be pleasant to read at any size, and have features
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such as weights.
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</p><p>Note how the intent is to avoid Arial and Liberation fonts, which are not very pleasant.
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</p><ul><li><p><code>system-ui</code> is a standard, but not all browsers support it.
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</p></li><li><p><code>-apple-system</code> and <code>BlinkMacSystemFont</code> are pre-standard names for the system font that only
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work on Apple devices.
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</p></li><li><p>Roboto is the font in Android and some GNU/Linux distributions.
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</p></li><li><p>Noto Sans is the fallback font for Roboto, as well as the font of KDE.
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</p></li><li><p>Segoe UI is the font of Windows.
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</p></li><li><p>Inter will likely be the font of GNOME in the future.
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</p></li><li><p>Cantarell is the font of GNOME (at least until they change it to Inter).
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</p></li><li><p>Ubuntu is the font of Ubuntu (obviously).
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</p></li><li><p>DejaVu Sans was popular on many Unixes in the past.
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</p></li><li><p>Bitstream Vera Sans is the font DejaVu Sans was based on.
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</p></li><li><p>Sans usually refers to one of the above two fonts on GNU/Linux.
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</p></li><li><p>Helvetica Neue was the old font of MacOS and iOS.
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</p></li><li><p>Helvetica was the even older font of iOS.
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</p></li><li><p>Lucida Grande was the even older font of MacOS.
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</p></li><li><p>sans-serif is the generic sans-serif font.
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</p></li></ul><h3>Transitional serif</h3><pre data-language="">Charter, "Bitstream Charter", "Source Serif 4", "Source Serif Pro", source-serif-pro, "Noto Serif",
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"FreeSerif", "Nimbus Roman", "Times New Roman", "Times", serif
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</pre><p>Transitional serifs appeared around 1750 and feature medium contrast.
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</p><p>The intent here is also to avoid Liberation Serif, so FreeSerif/Nimbus Roman (which are an
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actual clone of Times) are preferred to Times New Roman which falls back to Liberation Serif
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on most GNU/Linux distributions. In my opinion Cambria, used in the original Modern Font Stacks,
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is not a very nice font.
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</p><h3>Old style serif</h3><pre data-language="">Garamond, Palatino, "Palatino Linotype", "URW Palladio L", "Book Antiqua", "URW Bookman L",
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Bookman, P052, C059, serif;
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</pre><p>Old style serifs appeared early, in the Renaissance period, and were developed from calligraphy.
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</p><h3>Humanist sans</h3><pre data-language="">Cantarell, "Gill Sans Nova", "Gill Sans", "Gill Sans MT", Lato, "Source Sans Pro", "Source Sans 3",
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source-sans-pro, Skeena, Candara, Ubuntu, "Lucida Grande", "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Sans",
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"Trebuchet MS", sans-serif
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</pre><p>Humanist sans serifs, unlike neo-grotesques, have rounder shapes and more stroke contrast, and
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usually, true italics.
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</p><p>This is very different from the Modern Font Stacks one. I don't like the idea of using Ubuntu when
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Cantarell and Lato exist, which are much closer to a humanist font that isn't very unusual.
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</p><h3>Geometric sans</h3><pre data-language="">"Futura PT", "Futura LT", Futura, Lexend, "Readex Pro", Avenir, "Avenir Next", "Century Gothic",
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"Avant Garde", "URW Gothic", sans-serif
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</pre><p>Geometric sans serifs are usually based on circles and straight lines. They first appeared in the
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1920s.
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</p><p>Again, I've included some free fonts that don't suck.
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</p><h3>Neo-grotesque GUI</h3><pre data-language="">Roboto, Inter, "SF Pro", Aptos, Geist, FreeSans, "Nimbus Sans", "Helvetica Neue", system-ui, -apple-system,
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BlinkMacSystemFont, sans-serif
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</pre><p>Neo-grotesque fonts are a category of sans-serif typefaces that have more complex shapes than
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geometric fonts, but lower contrast than humanist fonts. This stack prefers the more modern
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fonts which appeared in the digital era.
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</p><p>Yes, I'm avoiding excessive spreading of Inter.
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</p><h3>Neo-grotesque (Swiss)</h3><pre data-language="">FreeSans, "Nimbus Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Aptos, Geist, Inter, Roboto, "SF Pro",
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"Microsoft Sans Serif", Arial, sans-serif
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</pre><p>This prefers Helvetica or its clones, more classic neo-grotesque fonts.
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</p><h3>Monospace (slab/typewriter)</h3><pre data-language="">"Courier Prime", FreeMono, "Cutive Mono", Nimbus Mono PS", "Courier New", Courier, monospace
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</pre><p>Monospaced fonts have the same width for all characters. This has a preference for fonts like
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Courier which use slab serifs and originate from typewriters.
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</p><h3>Monospace (sans/code)</h3><pre data-language="">ui-monospace, "Roboto Mono", "Source Code Pro", source-code-pro, "SF Mono", "IBM Plex Mono",
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Inconsolata, Menlo, Consolas, "Droid Sans Mono", "DMCA Sans Serif", "Hack", "DejaVu Sans Mono",
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"Bitstream Vera Sans Mono", monospace
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</pre><p>This prefers sans-serif monospace fonts that are not too quirky and are designed for technical
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applications.
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</p><h3>FuN MoNoSpAcE</h3><pre data-language="">"Cascadia Code", "Fira Code", "Fira Mono", "JetBrains Mono", "Ubuntu Mono", "Operator Mono",
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"Roboto Mono", "Source Code Pro", "SF Mono", "IBM Plex Mono", "Inconsolata", "Menlo", "Consolas",
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"Droid Sans Mono", "DMCA Sans Serif", "Hack", "DejaVu Sans Mono", "Bitstream Vera Sans Mono",
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monospace
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</pre><p>Of course, this prefers "fun" coding fonts with script italics, low f bar, unusual digits, and
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let's not forget ligatures!
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</p><h3>I-wanna-be-a-mac</h3><pre data-language="">"SF Pro", apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "San Francisco", Inter, Roboto, Geist, FreeSans,
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"Nimbus Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, "Arial Nova", "Arial", sans-serif
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</pre><p>This is for all who want to be like Apple - that is the major reason they prefer Inter.
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</p><h3>I-wanna-be-a-mac mono</h3><pre data-language="">"SF Mono", "JetBrains Mono", "Roboto Mono", ui-monospace, "Geist Mono", "Fira Mono", "Fira Code",
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Hack, "DejaVu Sans Mono", "Bitstream Vera Sans Mono", Menlo, Consolas, monospace
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</pre><p>This copies SF Mono.
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</p><h3>Industrial</h3><pre data-language="">"D-DIN", Bahnschrift, Grandview, "DIN Alternate", "FF DIN", "URW DIN", DIN, "Alte DIN", "Alte DIN 1451",
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"Alte DIN 1451 Mittelschrift", Barlow, "SF Compact", "SF Pro", Inter, Roboto, sans-serif
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</pre><p>Industrial typefaces generally use straight lines instead of ellipses, and are often used in
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technical applications or signage.
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</p><p>This prefers the DIN family which is the font used for road signs in Germany.
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</p><h3>Rounded</h3><pre data-language="">"SF Pro Rounded", "Hiragino Maru Githic", "Quicksand", "Varela Round", "Nunito", "Lato",
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"Arial Rounded MT Bold", sans-serif
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</pre><p>Rounded fonts are sans-serif but have rounded terminals.
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</p><h3>Slab serif</h3><pre data-language="">"Roboto Slab", "Rockwell Nova", "Rockwell", "Sitka Small", "Noto Serif", serif
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</pre><p>Slab serifs have more blocky serifs.
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</p><h3>Didone</h3><pre data-language="">Didot, "Bodoni MT", "Noto Serif Display", "Playfair Display", "Abril Fatface", "URW Palladio L",
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"Noto Serif", serif
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</pre><p>Didone serifs have very high contrast and thin serifs.
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</p><h3>Narrow sans (display)</h3><pre data-language="">Oswald, Anton, Impact, "Arial Narrow", sans-serif
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</pre><p>Bold, narrow sans-serif fonts, only for headings.
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</p><h3>Print handwriting</h3><pre data-language="">"Segoe Print", "Bradley Hand", Comic Neue", "Comic Sans MS", "Comic Sans", "TSCu_Comic",
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"Coming Soon", "Knewave", casual, cursive
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</pre><p>These mimic handwriting but without cursive (joined) letters.
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</p><h3>Cursive</h3><pre data-language="">"Segoe Script", "Lucida Handwriting", "Dancing Script", cursive
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</pre><p>These mimic cursive (joined) handwriting.
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</p><h3>Semi-humanist sans???</h3><pre data-language="">"DejaVu Sans", "Bitstream Vera Sans", Verdana, sans-serif
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</pre><p>Wide, with good readability especially at small sizes on low-resolution screens.
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</p><h3>Condensed semi-humanist sans???</h3><pre data-language="">"DejaVu Sans Condensed", Tahoma, sans-serif
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</pre><p>Same as above, but not so wide.
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