standard fonts for IE and Netscape into CSS

The different browsers aren't really an issue as far as font's goes - the problem is that different platforms (PC, Mac, *nix etc.) have different fonts installed.

I think that most machines have helvetica installed, and verdana and arial are also pretty common for sans-serif fonts. (you usually should define a font list with some alternatives to the font you want to use - like verdana, helvetica, sans-serif. That way the user's browser will look for verdana first, if it isn't installed it will use helvetica, if that isn't installed it will use whatever the default sans-serif font is).

Monospace is another option - most machines should have either COurier or Courier new. Then there's the serif family - Times or Times new Roman are on most machines.

You can try script fonts too - I don't think that there is an option for a default script font, but Lucinda Handwriting, Brush Script MT, and Park Avenue BT are pretty common I think (at least, that's the options Dreamweaver has built in for script fonts... you might end up with a few users who don't have any of those. If that's the case the browser will just use the default font - probably Times)

I'm sure there are other fonts that are very common. It might help to look at your site stats to see which platforms are most common for your site (I think mine is, like, 99% windows) so then you can try fonts that come with those platforms... I hope this makes sense.

Hi Megan,

well thanks a lot for your info. It does make a lot of sense to me.

As an alternative to fonts you might try creating a header graphic saying whatever you are advertising etc from your site. You're pretty much stuck to either arial or time roman which differs on other operating systems but looks close the same nonetheless.