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Old 04-20-2026, 04:29 AM   #1
rockster
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Question about fonts options
In preferences > fonts there are four fonts options:

Serif family
Sans-serif family
Monospace family
Standard font

Why so many options and which part of these four options is controlling the body text of the ebook?
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Old 04-20-2026, 04:37 AM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rockster View Post
In preferences > fonts there are four fonts options:

Serif family
Sans-serif family
Monospace family
Standard font

Why so many options and which part of these four options is controlling the body text of the ebook?
Some eBooks use code to specify different types of fonts.

font-family: sans-serif;
font-family: serif;
font-family: monospace;

As to which font is used, configure Serif family, Sans-serif family, and Monospace family. Then under Standard font choose which family you want to use. I have chosen Serif. That will use the font you specified got Serif family.
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Old 04-20-2026, 10:36 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rockster View Post
In preferences > fonts there are four fonts options:

Serif family
Sans-serif family
Monospace family
Standard font

Why so many options and which part of these four options is controlling the body text of the ebook?
Maybe NONE. Those are the settings to apply for unstyled (? I assume this is when the CSS has not called out a font to use. ) Standard may apply to the Viewer controls, not the book.
eg.
Code:
@font-face { font-family: "Sampler"; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; src:url(../Fonts/samplenormal.ttf); }
The first 3 are the GENERIC versions (usually as a fall back when the specific face is not available on a device)
The publisher picks a look for the text (assumes the device is set to Publishers and not a specific device font). Headings may be sans. Machine screens may be Mono, Letters may be serif. The stylesheet indicates what to use for that case. The viewer setting is for when the choice (in the CSS or styles) is missing or unavailable.

Serif have little flourishes (tails) on some letters, sans-serif has none. Both of these are variable width fonts. Monospace is like an old typewriter. all letters use the pitch (eg 10cpi)
Setting a font in <body> is the base , But that never override what is set fo a <p>, <div>, <h#>, <span> ...
IIRC it is not considered a good practice to set a 'font-family' in <body>
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Old 04-20-2026, 03:01 PM   #4
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Why the three font-family contain the same fonts? I mean Verdana exist in monospace, serif and sans-serif.
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Old 04-20-2026, 03:03 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rockster View Post
Why the three font-family contain the same fonts? I mean Verdana exist in monospace, serif and sans-serif.
No idea why. But it's easy enough to change the fonts as you want.
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Old 04-20-2026, 05:42 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rockster View Post
Why the three font-family contain the same fonts? I mean Verdana exist in monospace, serif and sans-serif.
Ask the foundry.
Verdana (and many more) are a Stylistic method. Thus in the Verdana style there are those 3 versions (as well as Bold, Italic, italic-bold for each)
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Old 04-20-2026, 08:41 PM   #7
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Originally Posted by rockster View Post
Why the three font-family contain the same fonts? I mean Verdana exist in monospace, serif and sans-serif.
Many fonts are only available in one classification of the 5 possible. So very often you need multiple fonts to get serif, sans serif, script, monospaced, and display typefaces.

For the most part, I use Charis SIL as my preferred body font, vary a lot in which sans serif font I use and Courier Prime as a monospaced font. I seldom use a script or display font.
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Old 04-21-2026, 03:04 PM   #8
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The only time I use a script font is if it comes embedded in the book I want to read.
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