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Arial Narrow -- Availability

drchae
6.Aug.2008 11.47am
drchae's picture

This isn’t exactly a type ID, but I’m trying to get some info on Arial Narrow. We’re trying to use it on a website as an alternative to Univers Light Condensed.

Does anyone know how available it is? Is it a standard on most computers and browsers? Any information would help.

Thanks!

‹ anyone know this font? ID this font? Helvetica Neue, Futura, Bryant ›


poms
6.Aug.2008 1.08pm
poms's picture

From a recent newsletter of http://www.codestyle.org/index.shtml
Windows: 87.46%
Mac: 91.26%

But i would be careful, because there is no “standard system font” which can replace “Arial Narrow”, your css-layout could … explode

font-family:"Arial Narrow", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
That means if Arial Narrow is not installed on the system, it will be replaced be the wider Arial or Helvetica and so on.

There is a possibility to work with sIFR (google it), a Flash/Javascript “solution”, but the more dynamic it gets, the more difficult it gets too. You can see sIFR in use here on typophile – the headlines are dynamically rendered in the “featured face”.

I would ask me, is it worth the money i have to pay for a proper technical solution. Or isn’t it better to avoid “Arial Narrow” with another design concept.

Good luck