Font settings for a website always use the least common denominator. Fonts like Verdana and Georgia, sizes between 13 and 16 pixels and so on. This may not be appropriate for your 24 inch screen, but there is nothing you can do about it. You don’t have much more influence besides telling your browser to make the type »larger«.

This is fine for a website you visit just once, but on a website you visit day after day you may want to have your OWN settings based on YOUR fonts and YOUR display. Maybe you want to see the headlines in Warnock Pro and use Calibri for the body copy?

For our German typography website Typografie.info I have developed a system, that will allow the users to choose various font settings (including the fonts found on the user’s system!) and apply them automatically to the website, everytime they will visit it.

Here is an example:
http://www.fonts.info/local-fonts-in-html/

In the example above the font list is limited to a number of common fonts, that are known to work in an HTML environment. At the moment these are PC and Mac system fonts and some common Adobe fonts.

In theory, a user may choose any font on his machine, but since fonts with a name like “Font Family SmBt Ital LF” won’t work in an HTML environment, this is may be a little bit too experimental.
Here is the same script, but this time showing all fonts installed on the user’s system:
http://www.fonts.info/local-fonts-in-html/index2.htm

I appreaciate any comments on this system!