I know Arial and Times are the recommended cross-platform fonts.

But at small font sizes, Arial is ugly. And its bold is barely distinguishable from plain.

Are there good alternatives?

I found two messages advocating Verdana as cross-platform. Anyone had troubles with it? (It is better looking than Arial, though its a bit wider than ideal.)

I found one message advocating Tahoma as cross-platform. Anyone had troubles with it? (It is probably a bit better looking than Verdana, and is not quite as wide.)

I believe Lucida Grande and Helvetica are problematic cross-platform. Anyone dispute that?

Finally, is it really Times or Times New Roman that you should be using when you want a cross-platform serif font?

Thanks!

The problem with Verdana or Tahoma is that not everyone has those fonts. Arial and Times have become "industry standard", primarily because of the internet. (The internet is where you can find evidence of the non-universiality of Verdana & Tahoma -- any well-designed page that calls those fonts will have alternatives.) Yes, they're not the prettiest fonts on the market, but we're talking "lowest common denominator" here and, like politicians who try to appeal to everyone, they appeal to noone.

Times New Roman is not a good choice, because many Mac people (and more than a few Windows types) don't have it.