Font-family selection for a web app

Question

I have an existing web app, which has been coded and tested against Windows XP+, IE and Firefox.

I am using the following font-family : Segoe UI, Verdana, Helvetica, Sans-Serif;

Our customers like Segoe UI on Windows, but we find that the typefaces degrade poorly on MacOSX, and mobile devices, as well as if ClearType is not enabled.

What would you use?

We would like to keep Segoe Ui, but ensure that font look and feel is similar across platforms as far as possible. Would Frutiger be a good selection for a mac font?

Answer 1

One point, in fact one font, I would like to address, and that is 'Helvetica'. As I understand it, this is predominantly a Mac font, as opposed to Windows (licensing issues etc. I believe?).

Quite a few websites specify Helvetica as priority (appearing earlier in the font-family list) over say Arial or Verdana (Windows) which in my opinion is incorrect (despite articles I've read saying the contrary). I'm running a Windows XP machine, ClearType is off by default. I somehow acquired Helvetica many moons ago (not sure where exactly, I've not installed it specifically) and with ClearType off, Helvetica displays very badly at normal to low font-sizes. However, it displays great on IE8 because that browser smooths all its fonts!

So, IMO I would certainly place Helvetica later in the font-family list (which you have done anyway).

I do have "Segoe UI" on my machine as well, but how common is this? Verdana is a made-for-the-web font, very clear at low point sizes, but slightly wider than others. It will take up quite a bit more space than Segeo.

As to which fonts to use... I think this is really two questions. Which fonts fit the design - very much a 'Web Design' issue? And which fonts are cross-platform - a technical issue? But with the advent of CSS3 and downloadable fonts etc. then this 2nd question is perhaps becoming more historical?