CSS font-family Property

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Example

Specify the font for a paragraph:

p
{
font-family:"Times New Roman",Georgia,Serif;
}

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Definition and Usage

The font-family property specifies the font for an element.

The font-family property can hold several font names as a "fallback" system. If the browser does not support the first font, it tries the next font.

There are two types of font family names:

  • family-name - The name of a font-family, like "times", "courier", "arial", etc.
  • generic-family - The name of a generic-family, like "serif", "sans-serif", "cursive", "fantasy", "monospace".

Start with the font you want, and always end with a generic family, to let the browser pick a similar font in the generic family, if no other fonts are available.

Note: Separate each value with a comma.

Note: If a font name contains white-space, it must be quoted. Single quotes must be used when using the "style" attribute in HTML.

Default value: not specified
Inherited: yes
Version: CSS1
JavaScript syntax: object.style.fontFamily="arial,sans-serif"

Browser Support

Internet Explorer Firefox Opera Google Chrome Safari

The font-family property is supported in all major browsers.

Note: No versions of Internet Explorer (including IE8) support the property value "inherit".

Property Values

Value Description
family-name
generic-family		 A prioritized list of font family names and/or generic family names
inherit Specifies that the font family should be inherited from the parent element

Related Pages

CSS tutorial: CSS Font

CSS reference: font property

HTML DOM reference: fontFamily property

CSS Reference Complete CSS Reference