Achieve Native Font Rendering Across Devices for Seamless Web Design

• Introduction
• Prerequisites
• Instructions
  • 1. Define the Font Stack
  • 2. Include Custom Fonts (Optional)
  • 3. Apply Font Stack to Elements
• Conclusion

Introduction

Ensuring consistent, native font appearance across platforms is crucial for seamless hybrid web experiences. We'll demonstrate how to use CSS font stacks to prioritize native fonts on iOS, macOS, and Android, with fallbacks for custom and generic fonts.

Prerequisites

• HTML and CSS basics
• Text editor or IDE
• Web browser for testing

Instructions

1. Define the Font Stack

In your CSS, use font-family to define the font stack for desired elements, prioritizing native fonts per platform:

body {
  font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Roboto', 'Helvetica Neue', 'Nanum Gothic', sans-serif;
}

Font stack order:

1. -apple-system: iOS and macOS system font
2. BlinkMacSystemFont: Newer macOS system font
3. 'Roboto': Android default font
4. 'Helvetica Neue': Older iOS/macOS fallback
5. 'Nanum Gothic': Custom font if system fonts unavailable
6. sans-serif: Generic fallback font family

2. Include Custom Fonts (Optional)

For custom fonts like 'Nanum Gothic', include font files in your project assets. Use @font-face in CSS to specify the file and location:

@font-face {
  font-family: 'Nanum Gothic';
  src: url('path/to/nanum-gothic.woff2') format('woff2'),
       url('path/to/nanum-gothic.woff') format('woff');
  font-weight: normal;
  font-style: normal;
}

Tip

Learn more about the @font-face rule at W3Schools' CSS @font-face Rule.

For TailwindCSS, see Integrating Custom Fonts in a Vue3 CLI Project with TailwindCSS.

3. Apply Font Stack to Elements

Use CSS selectors to apply the font-family to specific elements:

h1, h2, h3 {
  font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Roboto', 'Helvetica Neue', 'Nanum Gothic', sans-serif;
}

p {
  font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Roboto', 'Helvetica Neue', 'Nanum Gothic', sans-serif;
}

Conclusion

By setting the CSS font stack in platform priority order, your website will use native fonts on each platform for a familiar, cohesive look. The stack starts with iOS/macOS system fonts, the Android default font, then custom and generic fallbacks.

This approach ensures your website typography looks native and seamless across devices and platforms.