generic-family: cursive definition is too narrow

[Artoria2e5]

MDN URL

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/generic-family

What specific section or headline is this issue about?

Values

What information was incorrect, unhelpful, or incomplete?

The current definition takes "cursive" literally. However, it is supposed to mean "any handwritten-style font", which notably does not exclude Comic Sans. See:

Glyphs in cursive fonts generally use a script style, and the result looks more like handwritten pen or brush writing than printed letterwork. CSS uses the term "cursive" to apply to a font for any script, although other names such as Chancery, Brush, Swing and Script are also used in font names.
https://drafts.csswg.org/css-fonts/#cursive-def

'cursive': fonts that emulate handwriting
Comic Sans MS, Comic Sans, cursive
https://www.w3.org/Style/Examples/007/fonts.en.html

What did you expect to see?

A broadened definition in line with the spec.

Do you have any supporting links, references, or citations?

Already posted.

Do you have anything more you want to share?

No response

MDN metadata

Page report details

• Folder: en-us/web/css/generic-family
• MDN URL: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/generic-family
• GitHub URL: https://github.com/mdn/content/blob/main/files/en-us/web/css/generic-family/index.md
• Last commit: a075805
• Document last modified: 2025-02-13T17:34:12.000Z

[Josh-Cena]

What you said is against the examples given in https://drafts.csswg.org/css-fonts/#generic-font-families, though. Comic Sans is given under fantasy, and cursive includes traditional cursive fonts.

[Artoria2e5]

Huh... Might be a semantic shift...