CSS3 @font-face Rule
Example
Specify a font named "myFirstFont", and specify the URL where it can be found:
@font-face
{
font-family: myFirstFont;
src: url(sansation_light.woff);
}
Try it yourself »
More "Try it Yourself" examples below.
Definition and Usage
With the @font-face rule, web designers do no longer have to use one of the "web-safe" fonts.
In the new @font-face rule you must first define a name for the font (e.g. myFirstFont), and then point to the font file.
Tip: Use lowercase letters for the font URL. Uppercase letters can give unexpected results in IE!
To use the font for an HTML element, refer to the name of the font (myFirstFont) through the font-family property:
div
{
font-family: myFirstFont;
}
Browser Support
The @font-face rule is supported in Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Chrome, and Safari.
The numbers in the table specifies the first browser version that fully supports the font format.
| Font format | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TTF/OTF | 4.0 | 12.0* | 9.0* | 3.5 | 3.1 | 10.0 |
| WOFF | 5.0 | 12.0 | 9.0 | 3.6 | 5.1 | 11.1 |
| WOFF2 | 36.0 | Not supported | Not supported | 35.0* | Not supported | 26.0 |
| SVG | 4.0 | Not supported | Not supported | Not supported | 3.2 | 9.0 |
| EOT | Not supported | 12.0 | 6.0 | Not supported | Not supported | Not supported |
*Edge and IE: The font format only works when set to be "installable".
*Firefox: Disabled by default, but can be enabled (need to set a flag to "true" to use WOFF2).
Syntax
@font-face
{
font-properties
}
| Font descriptor | Values | Description |
|---|---|---|
| font-family | name | Required. Defines the name of the font. |
| src | URL | Required. Defines the URL(s) where the font should be downloaded from |
| font-stretch | normal condensed ultra-condensed extra-condensed semi-condensed expanded semi-expanded extra-expanded ultra-expanded |
Optional. Defines how the font should be stretched. Default value is "normal" |
| font-style | normal italic oblique |
Optional. Defines how the font should be styled. Default value is "normal" |
| font-weight | normal bold 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 |
Optional. Defines the boldness of the font. Default value is "normal" |
| unicode-range | unicode-range | Optional. Defines the range of unicode characters the font supports. Default value is "U+0-10FFFF" |
Try it Yourself - Examples
Example
You must add another @font-face rule containing descriptors for bold text:
@font-face {
font-family: myFirstFont;
src: url(sansation_bold.woff);
font-weight: bold;
}
Try it yourself »
The file "sansation_bold.woff" is another font file, that contains the bold characters for the Sansation font.
Browsers will use this whenever a piece of text with the font-family "myFirstFont" should render as bold.
This way you can have many @font-face rules for the same font.
Related Pages
CSS3 tutorial: CSS3 Fonts
