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Another Stab at Online Outline Fonts

Posted by timothy on from the transportability dept.

orest writes "Microsoft took a whack at it with WEFT. Bitstream tried TrueDoc. But someone has finally gotten somewhere with sIFR. sIFR allows web designers to render font outlines -- and thereby their preferred fonts -- in a visitor's web browser, without those fonts being installed on the visitor's computer. sIFR relies on JavaScript and Flash to accomplish its magic. A similar, bleeding-edge solution exists in Batik, an open-source SVG browser from the Apache Foundation."

3 of 65 comments (clear)

  1. Anyone see a problem with this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Javascript has its uses and its abuses. For a lot of browsing, it's best to have it turned off. But what happens if you have to have it enabled just to read the text?

    I wonder if it's a good idea to sacrifice security because a web developer is addicted to a certain font.

    1. Re:Anyone see a problem with this? by Niggle · · Score: 3, Insightful

      If you're running with something like Firefox's Flashblock extension then it doesn't degrade at all gracefully. You just get the usual click to play icon instead of the text.

      I should add that whenever I install Firefox for somebody else, I always add this extension. 90% of flash on the web is used for ads that nobody ever wants to see. Most people are just amazed at how much it can speed up page loading.

      --
      - Blah blah blah, missing scientist. Blah blah blah, atomic bomb. -
  2. Disabled people use computers too :( by applegoddess · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Honestly, I think this is an excellent use of JavaScript (and the whole reverting to good ol' CSS if javascript is disabled thing). It gives control of layout to the designer, but you can't forget the disabled users. They exist, just like you and me. I volunteer to help blind people, and you won't believe what a pain in the !@#$ jaws for windows, voiceover for OS X and speakup for linux are when it comes to surfing the web...all because some developer wanted to use some font he/she liked and implemented that by using flash or putting some stupid image as a replacement (and often forget to include the alt attribute, which noone seems to really use *frown*).

    I can't thank people like the sIFR devs enough for trying to make peoples lives easier.