Am I completely mad or am I the only person who can't get font-weight to work? I see lots of major websites saying that the font-weight CSS property is covered in all the major browsers but it never EVER works for me...?

I am going a bit soft in the head because of this. Can anyone help?

do we get examples of the code you use?

Of course It's all very simple though. Here's the CSS

<style type="text/css">
body {
 color:#767884;
 font-weight:100;
}
.arial {
 font-family:Arial;
}
.verdana {
 font:Verdana;
}
.times {
 font:Times New Roman;
}
.xsmall {
 font-size:9px;
}
.small {
 font-size:11px;
}
.medium {
 font-size:13px;
}
.larger {
 font-size:16px;
}
.large {
 font-size:20px;
}
.xlarge {
 font-size:30px;
}
</style>

... and then the HTML

<p class="times xsmall">
I am Times New Roman at font size 9
</p>
<p class="times small">
I am Times New Roman at font size 11
</p>
<p class="times medium">
I am Times New Roman at font size 13
</p>
<p class="times larger">
I am Times New Roman at font size 16
</p>
<p class="times large">
I am Times New Roman at font size 20
</p>
<p class="arial xsmall">
I am arial at font size 9
</p>
<p class="arial small">
I am arial at font size 11
</p>
<p class="arial medium">
I am arial at font size 13
</p>
<p class="arial larger">
I am arial at font size 16
</p>
<p class="arial large">
I am arial at font size 20
</p>
<p class="arial xlarge">
I am arial at font size 30
</p>
<p class="verdana xsmall">
I am verdana at font size 9
</p>
<p class="verdana small">
I am verdana at font size 11
</p>
<p class="verdana medium">
I am verdana at font size 13
</p>
<p class="verdana larger">
I am verdana at font size 16
</p>
<p class="verdana large">
I am verdana at font size 20
</p>
<p class="verdana xlarge">
I am verdana at font size 30
</p>

You probably wouldn't see any real effect from those rules, as all the text would be the same weight, and only slightly "thinner" than the usual.

Ok, so does the font-weight property ever work? Or is it only noticeable on larger font sizes? I'm just curious as the lack of proper font control frustrates me. We've come so far in terms of web development but we're still so limited in terms of fonts (types, thickness etc.)

so does the font-weight property ever work?

Of course it does, but it is more noticeable at the heavier weights. The font-face also has some effect on how that weight looks and renders.

As Chris said, a font-weight of 100 is going to be barely noticeable.

the lack of proper font control frustrates me.

Welcome to the club. You really cannot translate the world of print to the web when it comes to this.

as said above... font-weight: bold is most common or font-weight: normal. some fonts such as Arial doesn't show weight very well through web...