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Web Open Font Format Gets Backing From Mozilla

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the turns-out-open-is-easier-to-adopt dept.

A new format specification has reached consensus among web and type designers and is being backed by Mozilla. Dubbed Web Open Font Format (WOFF), it is an effort to bring advanced typography to the Web in a much better way. Support for the new spec will be included as a part of Firefox 3.6 which just recently hit beta. "WOFF combines the work Leming and Blokland had done on embedding a variety of useful font metadata with the font resource compression that Kew had developed. The end result is a format that includes optimized compression that reduces the download time needed to load font resources while incorporating information about the font's origin and licensing. The format doesn't include any encryption or DRM, so it should be universally accepted by browser vendors — this should also qualify it for adoption by the W3C."

15 of 206 comments (clear)

  1. Easier fonts means a lot! by SlappyBastard · · Score: 5, Funny

    For example, just imagine a world where every website can easily implement Comic Sans, even if the end user has uninstalled the font.

    --
    I scream. You scream. I assume that means we're both acquainted with the problem. We proceed.
    1. Re:Easier fonts means a lot! by syousef · · Score: 5, Funny

      For example, just imagine a world where every website can easily implement Comic Sans, even if the end user has uninstalled the font.

      Unfortunately I think most web sites will standardise on Windings.

      --
      These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
    2. Re:Easier fonts means a lot! by sopssa · · Score: 3, Funny

      What? How would that be easier than the plain-old "check out -> http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/11/02/2025242/Web-Open-Font-Format-Gets-Backing-from-Mozilla"

    3. Re:Easier fonts means a lot! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Even worse, links are often already guarded by some javascript that rewrites what shows up in the status bar

      Bah, this is why I use NoScript.

    4. Re:Easier fonts means a lot! by keytoe · · Score: 3, Funny

      I know it's not an XKCD link, but it's surprisingly relevant to the topic: http://achewood.com/index.php?date=07052007

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      Culture is more than commerce

    5. Re:Easier fonts means a lot! by dangitman · · Score: 3, Funny

      Web Fonts may offer some advantages, but they seem to have downsides as well.

      Such a bold statement!

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      ... and then they built the supercollider.
  2. Light Edition called WOFFLE by syousef · · Score: 3, Funny

    Then it'll be accurate to describe the content of all major web sites as a bunch of WOFFLE.

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    These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
    1. Re:Light Edition called WOFFLE by Tubal-Cain · · Score: 3, Funny

      I like WOPRs better.

    2. Re:Light Edition called WOFFLE by CopaceticOpus · · Score: 2, Funny

      I think they should have gone with Open Web Type Format.

    3. Re:Light Edition called WOFFLE by grcumb · · Score: 3, Funny

      I think they should have gone with Open Web Type Format.

      Dude, please. If you're going to do it, do it right:

      Open, Modular, Generic Web Type Format.

      --
      Crumb's Corollary: Never bring a knife to a bun fight.
  3. Re:How long... by John+Hasler · · Score: 2, Funny

    > Keep waiting, because the users don't want this. I like my DejaVu Sans and
    > prefer to read all my sites in the same readable font of my choice.

    Same here.

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    Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
  4. I only need one font. by mirix · · Score: 2, Funny

    Courier. I like to pretend I'm reading a typewriter printout.

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    Sent from my PDP-11
  5. This will be awesome in 10 years by schnablebg · · Score: 2, Funny

    This is going to be so great in 10 years when IE supports it fully and enough users are running that version of IE to make it worth the implementation time.

  6. They should have named it by sconeu · · Score: 2, Funny

    Web Open Representation for Fonts....

    Just so we could have WORF as an acronym.

    "Today is a good day to be rendered!"

    --
    General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
  7. Re:More Fonts for the Internet? by dkf · · Score: 2, Funny

    You know what's already possible to do in the current web? Blinking text in comic sans font! Just grab your favorite gif maker and let it render some comic sans on it. Done!

    Make it scroll too. After all, you can't underuse the <MARQUEE> tag...

    --
    "Little does he know, but there is no 'I' in 'Idiot'!"