html - Adjust font size depending on which font is used from a font stack

Question

I'm using one of the new google api fonts for a heading on a site. It's Yannone Kaffeesatz and is quite a condensed typeface.

My font stack is as follows:

    font-family: 'Yanone Kaffeesatz', arial, serif;

This is fine when the Yannone Kaffeesatz font renders, but if it doesn't, Arial is much more open and the heading spans over two lines.

My question is:

Is it possible to use a different font-size depending on which font is rendered on the page?

Ideally supported across a multitude of browsers.

Thanks

Tom

Answer 1

Nope, this is not possible. It is complex and difficult to find out the actual used font from a font-family list even in JavaScript - it's impossible in pure CSS.

If you want to go the JavaScript route, here is a link to a clever method to detect the actual font-family in JavaScript.

Once you know the font used, it's easy to adjust element.style.letterSpacing to the required amount.