Typography On the Web Gets Different

bstender writes "Most major browsers — including the latest versions of Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, and Opera — recognize a CSS rule known as @font-face. What that means, in brief, is that Web developers can now easily embed downloadable fonts in their pages. To see an example, load up Firefox 3.5 or Safari 4 and learn more. You'll see three new typefaces — Liza, Auto, and Dolly — used in the body text and headlines." No doubt the licensing issues are just as complex as the font nerd potential.

Comments

IE doesn't support font-face

[verbalcontract]

I was under the impression that no version of IE supported @font-face?

http://arstechnica.com/web/news/2009/07/font-face-typekit-and-font-licensing-the-state-of-web-type.ars

Re:IE doesn't support font-face

[HappyHead]

Actually, it does support @font-face, just not with standard font files. Microsoft's reason for this was because some people make TrueType font files and put them under copywrite,and they felt that allowing the use of .ttf files for font distribution would enable copywrite violations. Instead, you have to use a Microsoft utility to convert the font files into a special Microsoft font format for web pages called EOT - which doesn't actually solve the stated problem, but does make it difficult for anyone else to use the font file for things other than embedding in web pages that will be viewed with IE after you've put it on your website.

http://jontangerine.com/log/2008/10/font-face-in-ie-making-web-fonts-work

Re:IE doesn't support font-face

[Anonymous Coward]

I managed to get @font-face working for all browser supporting it, buy having both .ttf and .eot files and IE CSS conditional comment. Also, check ttf2eot for a tool that run on linux if you don't want to use MS's tool.

To disable @font-face in Firefox 3.5

[GeekDork]

In about:config, set gfx.downloadable_fonts.enabled to false and restart the browser.