Re: [PLUG] OT: Embeding Fontsin Web Pages

["Arthur S. Alexion" <arthur@alexion.com>]

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Paul wrote:

> LeRoy Cressy wrote:
>
> > Paul wrote:
> >
> > | Is there a good alternative to Micro$oft's WEFT (Web Embedding Font
> > |  Tool)?
>
>
>
> "Out of curiosity I have to check into WEFT to find out exactly what 
> it is.  I would guess that it's an Internet-based font server.  Of 
> course, I wouldn't suggest attempting Netscape 4.x compatibility.  I 
> do suggest shooting for Mozilla 1.x compatibility.  Mozilla is very 
> similar in functionality to Internet Explorer.
>
> The reason why I suggest this is because the Web works best when sites 
> are based on open standards.  If only the latest Microsoft Internet 
> Explorer can view a site properly (Sometimes it's the *only* browser 
> allowed!) then there is an imbalance which favors a particular group 
> of users.  That group may be the majority, but think of why they are 
> the majority; they have no choice.
>
> We may find that there is a better alternative to WEFT."

I used to use a Bitstream technology that was built into the 4.x 
versions of Netscape but had lost the interest of the mozilla.org 
project in the early stages.  I have no idea whether it is still 
supported.  The technology was built into Netscape and downloaded an 
Active-x to IE.  It worked well on both platforms (and, I believe on 
Opera -- I hadn't used kmail at the time).

Bitstream provided a free tool to convert fonts and a commercial one.  
Fonts were domain specific, i.e. you gave the tool a domain name when 
building the fonts, and they only worked on the specified domain 
server.  The commercial tool produced fonts that ran on any domain.  I 
was only supporting two sites at the time, and only using the fonts on 
one, so the free product was fine.

The name of the Bitstream technology currently escapes me, and I know 
that the stuff is available on a web site named after the technology.  
You may be able to find it on Bitstream's main site.  Meanwhile I'll try 
booting into the windows partition on the old machine I used at the 
time, and see if I can get better names for you.

BTW, if you find the site, it uses the fonts, so you will see if your 
current browser supports them.  (Actually, I'd be interested whether 
mozilla and konqueror support them, myself.

As to LeRoy's concern regarding size and readability, these were 
scalable fonts (like Type 1 and TTF).  Unless the page author used some 
GUI page editor or manually specified the size, they will scale just 
like your local fonts.  Now whether the type face style is readable is 
more a question of whether you are trying to convey narrative content, 
or some stylistic image that the fonts help you achieve.  If your goal 
is readable text, stick with sans serif for on screen reading and a 
serif for the printed page.  Some fonts, like Verdana, were specifically 
designed for on screen reading.  Tahoma was designed to be readable at 
smaller sizes, hence its use in menus, etc.

- -- 

- --

_______________________________________
Art Alexion
Arthur S. Alexion LLC
arthur [at] alexion [dot] com
aim: aalexion
sms: 2679725536 [at] messaging [dot] sprintpcs [dot] com

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