By Colin Henson
While we wait for a standard, broadly supported, approach to web fonts to emerge there are a few good options for us to use fonts on the web now—sIFR, Cufon, and TypeKit among others. These techniques work well although they all have their limits. Most of these substitution techniques work best for replacing small areas of type; for example all of the headers and sub-headers on a page. Each technique has its advantages and disadvantages.
By Colin Henson
If you’re not already familiar with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), they are one of the major organizations that define web standards—the technical specifications that describe all aspects of the world wide web. These specifications are meant to, in theory, insure interoperability.
Interoperability is at the center of the web fonts debate. We need a web font solution that will work across platforms and browsers. It makes sense then that the W3C is at the center of this debate.
By Colin Henson
We don’t have a standard format for web fonts. There have been attempts but nothing has stuck.
So, what’s standing between us and a font utopia? Besides the political battles there are a whole mess of technical hurdles and features that need to be supported or at least considered.