Generic Family Name

[birdman]

How exactly do we write a generic family name?
Here's mine;

...{
font-family: verdana, arial, tahoma, times new roman;
}

When I tried validating my .css file using the validator in w3.org it gave me a warning telling me that I'm encouraged to include a generic family name as a last alternative...

[Twey]

Something like "serif", "sans-serif", "monospace". Put it on the end. The browser will use the system's generic font of that type.

[birdman]

any tip on identifying the font type? how's the example i gave? i was guessing i'm suppose to use standard fonts and the system can choose from one. what if i put...

font-family: verdana, tahoma, fixedsys;

[Twey]

No, no, no. You misunderstand the term "family name." It's not a font, it's a type of font. Serif means the fonts with the little flicks on the ends. Sans-serif means the fonts without. Monospace is a font where all the letters are the same width (like courier).

[birdman]

you just updated my almost-fossillised-9-year-corrupt knowledge :)

thank you loads!