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Open Fonts For The Web -- Harder Than It Sounds

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the 26-isn't-enough dept.

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!"

5 of 179 comments (clear)

  1. Truth be told... by mstyne · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I've been using the freefont fontset, and find them pretty nice.

    http://www.nongnu.org/freefont/

    --
    mstyne: real name, no gimmicks
  2. Font Copyright.... by autopr0n · · Score: 4, Interesting

    You know the interesting thing about fonts is that they can't be copyrighted, only trademarked under US law. It seems a bit weird, until you realize the implications... font owners would be able to have some control over any documented printed with their fonts.

    On the other hand, font making people have tried to claim that their fonts are 'software' and thus copyrightable. But if you made a duplicate font 'by hand' it would be legal... but you would have to call it something else, as 'times new roman' and 'verdana' are trademarks of various font providers.

    Another ramification of this is that you can get really cheap fonts for your computer that look exactly the same as some of the most expensive ones.

    --
    autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
    1. Re:Font Copyright.... by Wakkow · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Read More about how fonts/typefaces can/can't be trademarked, patented, copyrighted, etc.

  3. Standardization... by UnidentifiedCoward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    has always been a problem. When I used to work in academia supporting professors and graduate students who were trying to write papers with inordinately complex mathematical models you begin to understand why it is a problem.

    Really, the methodology for creating the paper depended sharply on the ultimate destination (or publication). Every publisher has their own requirements for typeset, etc. Really you need to convince publishers to agree to accept the font package before it will win broad acceptance.

  4. Pah, forget these ''math'' fonts... by Tom7 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If you want your mathematical publications to look really good, just use my fonts.

    http://fonts.tom7.com/

    Trust me. Instant PhD.