Typography & Web Fonts
Navigate email font stacks, custom Google Fonts importing via <mj-font>, and safe fallbacks for Outlook.
Key Takeaways
- Email clients have varying support for custom web fonts. Apple Mail supports them fully, while desktop Outlook replaces them with Times New Roman unless fallback stacks are defined.
- Safe system font stacks (Arial, Helvetica, Georgia, Verdana, Trebuchet MS) render identically everywhere.
- PostBrix injects <mj-font> declarations into <mj-head> for Google Fonts and custom CDN fonts.
- Always configure a reliable fallback stack (e.g. "Inter, Arial, sans-serif") for consistent brand delivery.
Web Fonts vs. System Fonts in Email#
Understanding how email clients render fonts is essential for email designers:
The Outlook "Times New Roman" Trap#
If you specify a custom font like font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, sans-serif;, Microsoft Outlook will encounter 'Open Sans', fail to find it locally, and instead of falling back to Arial, it will immediately revert the entire text block to its default serif font: Times New Roman.
How PostBrix Protects Your Fonts:
PostBrix generates MSO conditional font overrides inside the <mj-head>:
This allows Apple Mail and modern webmail clients to load your beautiful custom web font, while guaranteeing Outlook gracefully renders clean, modern Arial instead of Times New Roman.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use custom Google Fonts in my PostBrix emails?
Yes. PostBrix includes popular Google Fonts (like Inter, Roboto, Montserrat, Poppins) and generates the required <mj-font> link in the HTML header.
Which system fonts work reliably across all email clients?
Arial, Helvetica, Georgia, Verdana, Trebuchet MS, and Times New Roman are universally installed on Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android devices.