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In epub and kindle css, you can specify a fallback font by specifying
p {font-family: "Georgia", serif}
h1 {font-family: "Helvetica", sans-serif}
If various reading systems have defaults for serif and sans-serif, can you tell me what they are?
I.E. Kindle e-ink, Kindle android app, Google Play Books, ibooks, Kobo, Adobe DE.
On a related question, can I assume that all titles are in the default sans-serif font? When a customer overrides publisher defaults and chooses a certain font (like Bookerly on kindle), does that leave the title fonts still in the default sans-serif?
UPDATE: Someone on KDP forum has confirmed that user-selected fonts for kindle systems are the same for body fonts and heading font. Therefore, you would need to specify a heading font if you want it to be different.
UPDATE 2 I encourage people to post fonts existing on the mobile devices or reading systems that they have. Please indicate whether there is an option to specify Publisher Defaults on the reading system. Also, if you have any insight as to which font would be considered the default Serif or Sans Serif choice by the reading system, please mention it. Thanks!
UPDATE 3 (5/2017) A commenter has pointed out that some Amazon Kindle devices are using fonts for Indic languages written in Bengali/Devanagari/Gujarati/Kannada/Malayalam/Tamil/Telugu. On the device this font is referred to as
"Noto Sans." Noto is a multilingual font developed and supported by Google, but Amazon has only used portions of this Noto font for Indian languages. I have seen no official announcement yet.
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Overdrive Libby on Android
Instead of offering fonts to choose from, Libby offer these book design variants:
Publisher's Default
Legible
Scholar
Paperback
OpenDyslexic
Custom
If the user chooses "Custom," the following options will appear:
-- (default)
Serif
Sans Serif
(Presumably, the first option includes body font in the SW's default serif and heading fonts in the SW's default sans serif).
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iBooks (v. 4.10)
Athelas
Charter
Georgia
Iowan
Palatino
San Francisco
Seravek -- Sans Serif
Times New Roman
Related: here's a deep dive into the system iBooks fonts (written in 2011, but still relevant). Here's another "review" of iBooks fonts (also from 2011).
Please note that as of 6/2017, you cannot embed fonts or have extra fonts show up as options in iBooks unless the publisher makes small modifications to the package.opf file. If that is done, the embedded font(s) show up as "Original" on the Font settings.
Kindle for IOS (ipad 1 through iphone 6s)
Bookerly
Caecilia
Georgia
Palatino
Baskerville
Helvetica (sans-serif)
Lucida
Droid Serif
Open Dyslexic
Publisher Font
iBooks 3.1.3 ipad 1/ios 5.1.1/
Athelas
Charter
Georgia
Iowan
Palatino
San Francisco
Seravek -- Sans Serif
Times New Roman
RELATED: Iosfonts.com shows system fonts for all Apple system devices (although not necessarily iBooks).
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Important Note: Kindle devices (and possibly apps on ios/android/windows) targeted for non-English speaking countries might have a different set of default fonts. I've seen reports starting in 2016 (here and here) that (unspecified) versions of Kindles devices for India include Noto Sans (the portion which support the Indian languages). According to reader reports, this started happening with reading devices which were able to receive the 5.8.7 firmware (or higher). That meant Kindle Paperwhites (generation 6 and later). If you know of other non-European fonts which are included by default on your device or app, feel free to mention in the comments)
Kindle 4 (aka Kindle Touch)
Caecilia
Caecilia Condensed
Helvetica -- Sans Serif
Publisher Font
Kindle Fire (version unspecified)
Arial - sans serif
Baskerville
Caecilia
Courier
Georgia
Helvetica - Sans Serif
Lucida Sans Unicode - Sans Serif
Palatino
Times New Roman
Trebuchet
Verdana - Sans Serif
Bookerly (unsure about which KF versions it appears on?)
(This info comes from a great Roger Packer article, How to Choose typography for ebooks). PS, would be nice to know which of these would be the system defaults for serif and sans).
Fire HD 8
Bookerly
Caecilia
Georgia
Palatino
Baskerville
Helvetica (Sans Serif)
Helvetica Light (Sans Serif)
Lucida
(Info Source: This video review of Fire HD 2016).
Kindle Paperwhite
Caecilia
Caecilia Condensed
Baskerville
Futura
Helvetica (Sans Serif)
Palatino
Bookerly (only for 3rd generation and after)
Publisher Font
(This info comes from this article about 1st gen Paperwhite and this article about Bookerly).
Several sources report that Kindle Paperwhite (6th generation and later) include Korean: HY Gothic & HY Myeong, Chinese: M Ying Hei & ST Heiti & ST Song, Indic: Noto Sans Bengali/Devanagari/Gujarati/Kannada/Malayalam/Tamil/Telugu. (It is unclear to me whether these fonts are installed on all these reading systems or whether they are installed only AFTER the Kindle owner loads an ebook in one of these languages).
Kindle Basic 7 (7th generation, 2014)
Baskerville
Bookerly
Caecilia
Caecilia Condensed
Baskerville
Futura
Helvetica (Sans Serif)
Palatino
Open Dyslexic
Kindle Basic 8 (8th generation, 2016)
Amazon Ember (Sans Serif, see this comparison video)
Baskerville
Bookerly
Caecilia
Caecilia Condensed
Baskerville
Futura
Helvetica (Sans Serif)
Palatino
Open Dyslexic
Kindle Oasis
Amazon Ember (Sans Serif, see this comparison video)
Amazon Ember Bold
Baskerville
Bookerly
Open Dyslexic
Palatino
Publisher Font
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Here -- as best as I can tell -- are the system fonts for selected Android reading systems:
Kindle for Android:
Bookerly
Caecilia
Georgia
Palatino
Baskerville
Helvetica (sans-serif)
Lucida
Droid Serif
Open Dyslexic
Note: Kindle/Android does NOT have an option for the user to select Publisher Defaults.
Google Play Books:
Original (?? -- does this mean Publisher Default?)
Sans (unclear?)
Literata -- this is supposed to be the default font on GPB
Merriweather
Goudy
Vollkorn
Note: GPB does NOT have an option for the user to select Publisher Defaults (unless it is "Original")
Adobe DE for Android
No fonts available to select
Overdrive for Android 3.6.2 (Overdrive is a library reading app which uses a branded version of Adobe DE reader and its DRM). No information is given about which fonts are the reading system's default for the general terms ("Serif, "Sans-Serif", etc).
Book Default
Sans Serif
Serif
Monospace
Sans serif Bold
Serif Bold
Monospace Bold
OpenDyslexic
OpenDyslexic Bold
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Kobo ereader devices
My 1st gen Kobo Glo has the following fonts pre-installed (I suppose other Kobo devices use the same set; it is possible for the user to add more but I think this is beyond the scope of your question):
Serif: (1)
Amasis
Caecilia
Georgia (Default Serif font; also default font if nothing is specified in the ebook)
Kobo Nickel
Malabar
Sans Serif:
Avenir Next (Default Sans Serif font)
Gill Sans
Other:
KBJ-TsukuMin Pr6N RB (Serif) (2)
KBJ-UDKakugo Pr6N M (Sans Serif) (2)
OpenDyslexic
Of course, these customizations are optional, and it is possible to default fonts as defined inside the ebook.
About titles, if there are not specific settings inside the ebook stylesheets, they are treated like other text: besides having a larger size, if not explicitly set to something else, the default Georgia is used.
Kobo app for Android
Compared to the ereaders, the app is more limited in the customization options:
Default settings
Droid Serif
Droid Sans
1. Including slab serif
2. I'm not really sure but I think that these are used for Chinese/Japanese languages compatibility.
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