The common values for font series are (taken from fntguide
):
m Medium
b Bold
bx Bold extended
sb Semi-bold
c Condensed
m
is the default font weight, bx
is the default bold series. The c
and sb
weights do not exist in Computer Modern and Latin Modern. But it is a little known fact that the nonextended bold series, b
, is also available for the roman family in these fonts.
You would switch to this series with
\fontseries{b}\selectfont Text…
and make it the default bold series (such that it affects \bfseries
and \textbf
) with
\renewcommand{\bfdefault}{b}
However, there is no similar font weight defined for the sans serif CM/LM font family.
Fortunately, Latin Modern comes to rescue with its Latin Modern Sans Demi Cond
font, available in regular and oblique shapes. This font is somewhat more dense than the normal one, but because of that it also looks heavier. You can access this font through the sbc
font weight, which can be used just as b
above. If you use XeLaTeX or LuaLaTeX, you can also select this font by name with fontspec
.
And to show all the fonts:
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{lmodern}
\newcommand{\test}[2]{%
\makebox[2.5cm][l]{#2:} {\fontseries{#1}\selectfont The quick brown fox\dots}\par}
\begin{document}
Roman font family:
\test{m} {Medium}
\test{b} {Bold}
\test{bx} {Bold extended}
\null\par
\sffamily
Sans serif font family:
\test{m} {Medium}
\test{sbc}{Sans Demi Cond}
\test{bx} {Bold extended}
\end{document}
If you use a font other than Computer Modern or Latin Modern, you can check for the font weights mentioned before or examine the list of font files/font documentation.
fontseries
tosemibold
. As\bf
is an deprecated command (use\textbf
instead), try something like:\newcommand{\sebo}[1]{{\fontseries{sb}#1}}
, but close to none fonts supportsemibold
\selectfont
after\fontseries
.