The good news is that you can now specify a specific typeface for use within an HTML document. The bad news is that the typeface you specify must be installed on the computer of the person viewing the web page. Take a look at your friend's and coworker's computers, and you'll find very few of the same fonts installed on any computer.

Microsoft is trying to change this, by giving away a set of fonts for free. They're available for both the Mac and PC, and you can download them at http://www.microsoft.com/truetype. These fonts will also b e bundled in with the next version(s) of Internet Explorer. The fonts Microsoft is giving away are:

Arial , including:

• Arial Bold
• Arial Italic
• Arial Bold Italic
• Arial Black

Comic Sans MS , including:

• Comic Sans MS
• Comic Sans MS Bold

Courier New, including:

• Courier New Bold,
• Courier New Italic,
• Courier New Bold Italic,

Impact, which is a single font.

Times New Roman, including:

• Times New Roman Bold,
• Times New Roman Italic,
• Times New Roman Bold Italic

Verdana, including:

• Verdana Bold,
• Verdana Italic,
• Verdana Bold Italic

Arial
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz.
This is a sample sentance using Arial.

Comic Sans MS
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz.
This is a sample sentance using Comic Sans MS.

Courier New
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz.
This is a sample sentance using Courier New.

Impact
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz.
This is a sample sentance using Impact.

Times New Roman
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz.
This is a sample sentance using Times New Roman.

Verdana
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz.
This is a sample sentance using Verdana.