Ralf Herrmann’s Typography Weblog

Introducing Web FontFonts

Posted on 24. Feb, 2010 by Ralf Herrmann.

While FontFonts were already available thru TypeKit, FontShop International has now announced, that more than 30 of the most popular FontFont families are now available for download as so-called Web FontFonts, including FF DIN, FF Meta, FF Dax, and FF Kievit. This enables a more seamless and effective transition from print design to the web. An organization whose identity uses FF DIN, for example, can now deliver that experience on the web, using true HTML text.

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TypeFront – a font distribution platform for the web

Posted on 07. Feb, 2010 by Ralf Herrmann.

Services around webfonts are currently springing up like mushrooms. Here is another one: TypeFront, a service to host webfonts for users and foundries. Website owners can upload their licensed fonts and the service ensures that the fonts cannot be accessed from other websites.
Moreover the service also provides an API, so foundries can set up their own webfont service with TypeFront. Prices for TypeFront start at $5/month and users can test the service 30 days free of charge.

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Fontspring – @Font-Face ready typefaces

Posted on 05. Feb, 2010 by Ralf Herrmann.

While webfont services are getting a lot of attention these days, there is still the “old way” of licensing fonts with a one-time license fee. But usually such licenses don’t cover the use of fonts on websites via @font-face. Now Fontspring has opened its store—a font reseller which offers fonts for regular desktop use, but all fonts in the catalogue can also be used with the @font-face rule. If you purchase a license for a font on Fontspring.com you will get an OpenType font to be installed on your computer and web package, that contains TrueType and EOT fonts, which you can upload to your webserver. The license fee may cover single or an unlimited number of domains. This is up to the designer of the fonts. I like the simplicity of this concept and I am looking forward to see which font foundries will join this shop. Looking at the Fontspring catalogue today, I see a few interesting typefaces, but already way too many fonts, which are not really suitable for commercial websites.

http://www.fontspring.com

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The best sites with webfonts?

Posted on 29. Jan, 2010 by Ralf Herrmann.

Now that @font-face is supported across all major browsers and more and more fonts are available for @font-face linking, I would like to showcase the best websites using webfonts. Do you know such websites or do you have created one? Let me know and leave a comment to this article. Thank you!

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Why webfont services are the future of fonts on the web

Posted on 29. Jul, 2009 by Ralf Herrmann.

The debate about webfonts just reached its peak at a panel discussion on this year’s TypeCon conference. (You can listen to the 2 hours audio at Typographica and read summaries at i love typography and NiceWebType.) The discussion left a lot of people puzzled about how the future of fonts on the web might look like. Here is my outlook  …

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The Potential of Web Typography

Posted on 30. Jun, 2009 by Ralf Herrmann.

Firefox 3.5 with support for webfonts is out. This demo page by Ian Lynam & Craig Mod shows how commercial webfonts can enrich a website. The demo page uses subsetted versions of fonts from the Dutch foundry Underware and “is intended to show what will be possible once foundries revise their EULAs allowing for high-quality professional level fonts to be referenced in CSS“.

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Webfonts tweets

Posted on 03. Jun, 2009 by Ralf Herrmann.

Now you can also follow me on twitter. I will use this account mainly for comments and discussions about webfonts.
http://twitter.com/opentype

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Beautiful webfonts demo

Posted on 25. Mai, 2009 by Ralf Herrmann.

Tim Brown from nicewebtype.com designed a beatiful webfonts demo page using Graublau Sans Web. If you use a browser capable of linking TrueType/OpenType fonts try the demo page – otherwise take a look at the screenshot.

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Commercial font vendors starting to allow @font-face embedding

Posted on 20. Mai, 2009 by Ralf Herrmann.

When Apple introduced its @font-face support in Safari 3.1 in March 2008 it caused heated debates in the type industry, because in order to embed a TrueType or OpenType font in a website, the fonts need to be uploaded to a public server, free for everyone to be downloaded. But the users keep requesting the use of commercial fonts on websites.

Now more and more commercial font foundries have overcome their shock and have announced to support @font-face embedding for their fonts. Most notably, David Berlow of the Font Bureau has just announced that their fonts will soon be available for @font-face embedding. Font Bureau introduces a new permission table included in the fonts, but this table is currently not technically enforced in any way, so there are no limitations like the URL-binding feature of the EOT format. 

I am keeping track of foundries supporting @font-face embedding on this Webfonts.info Wiki page.

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10 Great Free Fonts for @font-face embedding

Posted on 05. Aug, 2008 by Ralf Herrmann.

Safari and Internet Explorer already support it*. Firefox and Opera will get it soon: Downloadable webfonts. Here is a collection of 10 great headline fonts you can embed in you website free of charge …

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