Web Font Comparisons

Note: sans-serif seems to be identical to Arial with most browsers.

Summary for Macintosh users:

Fonts:

Arial is best if you want maximum number of characters in minimum space. Verdana is best if you want very good readability. Geneva is also fairly good. Helvetica is not good.

Relative Font Sizes:

All of them are OK.

Absolute Font Sizes:

Avoid 7pt and 8pt font sizes. Avoid less than 11px, except for Verdana which is good also for 10px.

Summary for Windows users:

Fonts:

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Relative Font Sizes:

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Absolute Font Sizes:

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Summary for Unix users:

Fonts:

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Relative Font Sizes:

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Absolute Font Sizes:

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Relative size=1

Arial: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. Readable with Explorer 5 Macintosh.
Verdana: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. Good with Explorer 5 Macintosh.
Helvetica: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
Geneva: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. Good with Explorer 5 Macintosh.
Lucida: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
Times: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
 sans-serif: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. Readable with Explorer 5 Macintosh.

Relative size=2

Arial: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. OK with Explorer 5 Macintosh but not so good with Netscape 4.7 Macintosh.
Verdana: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. Good with Explorer 5 Macintosh.
Helvetica: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. Not good with Explorer 5 Macintosh.
Geneva: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
Lucida: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
Times: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
 sans-serif: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. OK with Explorer 5 Macintosh but not so good with Netscape 4.7 Macintosh.

Relative size=3

Arial: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. Good with Explorer 5 Macintosh. OK and very compact with Netscape 4.7 Macintosh.
Verdana: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. Good with Explorer 5 Macintosh.
Helvetica: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
Geneva: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
Lucida: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
Times: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
 sans-serif: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. Good with Explorer 5 Macintosh. OK and very compact with Netscape 4.7 Macintosh.

Absolute size=7pt

All of them unreadable with Netscape 4.7 Macintosh

Arial: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. Readable and very compact with Explorer 5 Macintosh.
Verdana: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. Very good with Explorer 5 Macintosh.
Helvetica: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
Geneva: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.. Good with Explorer 5 Macintosh.
Lucida: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
 Times: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
sans-serif: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. . Good with Explorer 5 Macintosh.

Absolute size=8pt

All of them unreadable with Netscape 4.7 Macintosh

Arial: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog .Readable and very compact with Explorer 5 Macintosh.
Verdana: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. Very good with Explorer 5 Macintosh.
Helvetica: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
Geneva: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.. Good with Explorer 5 Macintosh.
Lucida: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
 Times: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
sans-serif: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. . Good with Explorer 5 Macintosh.

Absolute size=10px

Arial: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
Verdana: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. Good with Explorer 5 Macintosh and Netscape 4.7 Macintosh.
Helvetica: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
Geneva: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
Lucida: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
 Times: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
sans-serif: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.

Absolute size=11px

Arial: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
Verdana: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. Good with Explorer 5 Macintosh and Netscape 4.7 Macintosh.
Helvetica: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
Geneva: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dogGood with Explorer 5 Macintosh and Netscape 4.7 Macintosh.
Lucida: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
 Times: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
sans-serif: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.

Absolut size=12px

Arial: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
Verdana: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. Best with Explorer 5 Macintosh.
Helvetica: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
Geneva: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
Lucida: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
 Times: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
sans-serif: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. OK with Explorer 5 Macintosh.