In order to achieve a thinner version of Verdana, due to the fact that the font does not support certain weights, you will have to place your own version of the font or use another font that is already placed to achieve your appearance.
Some fonts do not support lighter / heavier versions of themselves - if they do, they may not match the CSS numerical scale (as you indicated).
From here .
Because so many professional quality web fonts come in a variety of weights, it now makes sense to use a numerical scale than it was when we only had to deal with "normal (400) and" bold "(600). Typically, familys scales can be mapped to these values:
100: Ultra Light
200: Thin
300: light
400: Normal
500: bold
600: bold
700: Extra Bold
800: Heavy
900: Ultra Heavy
Pay attention to the keyword there: usually. Unfortunately, the reality is that many fonts simply do not fit this template, for example, when a family has many weights or where their own definitions do not necessarily correspond to the standard scale.
So, a short story, you will either have to place a โthinnerโ version of the font (the one you made / downloaded) or use a different font.
IMO Tahoma, Hedley or Geneva are similar fonts, however they are not available freely - you can look at Google fonts for some that both you and @minitech indicated.
source share