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Mac Users' Internet Experience to Retain Same Fonts

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the keep-on-truckin' dept.

thefickler sent in this article that opens, "Mac users will continue to see the Internet as it was intended, thanks to the renewal of a font licensing agreement between Microsoft and Apple. At TypeCon2007 Microsoft and Apple announced they have renewed their font licensing agreement, giving Apple users ongoing use of the latest versions of Microsoft Windows core fonts. Back in 1996 Microsoft started the "Core fonts for the Web" initiative. The idea of this initiative was to create a a standard pack of fonts that would be present on all or most computers, allowing web pages to be displayed consistently on different computers. While the project was terminated in 2002, some of the fonts defined as core fonts for the web have gone on to become known as "web safe fonts," and are therefore widely used by Internet developers."

4 of 282 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Why was the project terminated? by l33t.g33k · · Score: 5, Informative

    One reason MS discontinued the initiative, according to this, is because people were frequently abusing the EULA by repackaging the fonts in other programs.

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    My sig is permanently on strike.
  2. Re:You aren't a designer by gEvil+(beta) · · Score: 5, Informative

    (aside from the fact that it renders larger at a given point size than other fonts)

    The point size of a font is measured from the top of the highest ascender (think l's, b's, and d's) to the bottom of the lowest descender (p's, q's, and y's). A typeface can be specified to be 14 points, but if it has a small x-height with ridiculously long ascenders and descenders, it will appear tiny. Verdana happens to have a large x-height, so at the same point size it appears larger than other typefaces that have a more "normal" x-height.

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    This guy's the limit!
  3. Re:Huh? by VGPowerlord · · Score: 5, Informative

    Cascading Style Sheet docs recommend specifying multiple fonts for exactly this reason, suggesting that you use one of the generic font family names last as a fallback (serif, sans-serif, cursive, fantasy, or monospace).

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    GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
  4. Re:Liberation fonts... by Trogre · · Score: 5, Informative

    Because the silly sausages released it under a licence that prohibits any distribution whatsoever.

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    "Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife