What might be causing the strange font-family behavior in Ubuntu browsers?

Question

css

Hello. You need to use the font Nimbus Sans L
In css wrote:

font-family:Arial,Helvetica,"Nimbus Sans L",sans-serif;

But instead of Nimbus Sans L, sans-serif is used (it turns out that the font was not found, i.e. it is not installed in the system, although in fact it is)
If you write like this:

font-family:"Nimbus Sans L",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;

then the font will be connected and used normally.
Ubuntu 13.04 tested in firefox 26.0 + firebug in other browsers on ubunte the same thing.
This font is standard in ubuntu.
What could be causing this strange behavior?

Answer 1

as far as i know ubuntu has Arial and Helvetica
try this
and see what happens

Answer 2

The browser will take the first existing font from the list and apply it. He found Arial in you and applied it. And when you put nimbus first in the list, the browser picked up its name and everything worked as you wanted.

Answer 3

Try to see what font is in the compiled styles in firebug.