Open Fonts For The Web -- Harder Than It Sounds

simpl3x writes "of the nytimes articles posted today, this one about new, open fonts designed for the web was by far the most interesting. Here is a link to the project site, and here is a reason why it is necessary. For all the talk of the world wide part, the basics are still very local, aren't they? It will be interesting to see how one chooses a character on a keyboard!"

Comments

The 5 Linux fonts

[Anonymous Coward]

Arial
Helvecta
Times New Roman
Courier New
Terminal

Linux has only has those 5 fonts, nothing else!

It's time to adapt to a new reality

[b.foster]

Localization of the WWW and other computing/internet resources is a noble goal. However, before we as a community take the plunge and embrace Open Fonts and all of the other I18N measures, we need to step back and look at the big picture.

• America invented the internet. No, not Al Gore, but Tim Bernstein-Lee and Mark Andreeson created the World Wide Web as we know it today. DARPA created the infrastructure and Berkeley created the protocols. The Internet is a Western invention and anyone who wants to use it has no choice but to live with its Western customs.
• America uses the internet the most. During the late 90s, Internet traffic in North America more than doubled every six months. Certainly, the same could not be said of any country that writes with worm trails on paper instead of using the standard A-Z alphabet.
• The West contributes the most to civilization. From industrialization, to computers, to biotechnology, and beyond, history has shown that Westerners have done more in 100 years to advance civilization than the rest of the world has done in two millennia. Why should the West be forced to subsidize cultures and nations that produce no tangible benefits to humanity?

Just my 2c.

-b.