Comments on: The Right Proposal for Type on the Web http://astheria.com/design/the-right-proposal-for-type-on-the-web Thu, 11 Mar 2010 03:12:15 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Barney http://astheria.com/design/the-right-proposal-for-type-on-the-web/comment-page-1#comment-17580 Barney Wed, 30 Sep 2009 12:31:25 +0000 http://astheria.com/?p=110#comment-17580 Several of the participants here should be interested in this — instruction of how to easily convert TTF to OET using open-source tools: http://karoshiethos.com/?p=441 Several of the participants here should be interested in this — instruction of how to easily convert TTF to OET using open-source tools:

http://karoshiethos.com/?p=441

]]> By: Barney http://astheria.com/design/the-right-proposal-for-type-on-the-web/comment-page-1#comment-17371 Barney Tue, 22 Sep 2009 15:15:25 +0000 http://astheria.com/?p=110#comment-17371 @Ian: You're quite right in saying that EOT takes more effort to implement, but it is practically achievable - and doesn't involve such a crippling paradigm shift for foundries as simply having your fonts given away in whole whenever they are used, while still providing real text without technology dependencies that can be selected, copied, etc... @Ian:
You’re quite right in saying that EOT takes more effort to implement, but it is practically achievable - and doesn’t involve such a crippling paradigm shift for foundries as simply having your fonts given away in whole whenever they are used, while still providing real text without technology dependencies that can be selected, copied, etc…

]]> By: Ian O'Dea http://astheria.com/design/the-right-proposal-for-type-on-the-web/comment-page-1#comment-17368 Ian O'Dea Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:07:20 +0000 http://astheria.com/?p=110#comment-17368 @Tommie: I think you actually stated one of the bigger reasons why nobody talks about EOT: It was Microsoft that made it. People are pretty wary of any kind of solution that comes from Microsoft, as they have a history of being huge jerks. On top of that, even if they *have* come up with something good in EOT, it's still encumbered by the fact that you have to convert everything to OT (one hurdle that .webfont gets to ignore, as it is form-agnostic), and THEN you also have to convert that OT font to EOT, which you can only do on one platform, a platform that ISN'T used by most designers (and, likely, type foundries), with one tool (last I checked, at least). EOT really heavily restricts the people who actually want to use it, which is NOT a good idea. @Tommie: I think you actually stated one of the bigger reasons why nobody talks about EOT: It was Microsoft that made it. People are pretty wary of any kind of solution that comes from Microsoft, as they have a history of being huge jerks.

On top of that, even if they *have* come up with something good in EOT, it’s still encumbered by the fact that you have to convert everything to OT (one hurdle that .webfont gets to ignore, as it is form-agnostic), and THEN you also have to convert that OT font to EOT, which you can only do on one platform, a platform that ISN’T used by most designers (and, likely, type foundries), with one tool (last I checked, at least).

EOT really heavily restricts the people who actually want to use it, which is NOT a good idea.

]]> By: Tommie Hansen http://astheria.com/design/the-right-proposal-for-type-on-the-web/comment-page-1#comment-16326 Tommie Hansen Sat, 15 Aug 2009 18:49:51 +0000 http://astheria.com/?p=110#comment-16326 I don't get either why there isn't more talk about the EOT's. Quite strange - it has been around forever and it actually was MS that did it! It was back in the days when the IE dev-team though the web should be as interactive as possible and began developing the tools for it. When "interaction" was THE buzz-word to use (1997-1999?...) They actually was ahead of their time with image filtering and crazy stuff like that. It's quite funny when one thinks of it... :) I don’t get either why there isn’t more talk about the EOT’s. Quite strange - it has been around forever and it actually was MS that did it!

It was back in the days when the IE dev-team though the web should be as interactive as possible and began developing the tools for it. When “interaction” was THE buzz-word to use (1997-1999?…) They actually was ahead of their time with image filtering and crazy stuff like that. It’s quite funny when one thinks of it… :)

]]> By: Barney Carroll http://astheria.com/design/the-right-proposal-for-type-on-the-web/comment-page-1#comment-15719 Barney Carroll Fri, 24 Jul 2009 10:15:53 +0000 http://astheria.com/?p=110#comment-15719 Awkward to find myself touting a Microsoft technology, but I'm with Nikita on this one. What you're describing is done better by .EOT. EOT encrypts the font, and cannot have the original font files reverse-engineered out of it. It uses OpenType, as opposed to TrueType. These two aspects put it so far ahead of other browsers' implementations of @font-face in such desirable ways, it's really surprising how much the design community can stand to not check it out for what it is, and spin out a million hairbrained shoddy alternatives in the meantime. Currently it is difficult to implement — you'll need to convert any TTF fonts you want to use to OT with specialist software, and the encrypting application is Windows-only — and of course IE=<7 is the only practical supporter. But when people say they'll @font-face to refer to their ttfs first and then write back-up code for their IE eots, their IE 'alternative' is much more secure and far more flexible. Awkward to find myself touting a Microsoft technology, but I’m with Nikita on this one.

What you’re describing is done better by .EOT. EOT encrypts the font, and cannot have the original font files reverse-engineered out of it. It uses OpenType, as opposed to TrueType. These two aspects put it so far ahead of other browsers’ implementations of @font-face in such desirable ways, it’s really surprising how much the design community can stand to not check it out for what it is, and spin out a million hairbrained shoddy alternatives in the meantime.

Currently it is difficult to implement — you’ll need to convert any TTF fonts you want to use to OT with specialist software, and the encrypting application is Windows-only — and of course IE=<7 is the only practical supporter.

But when people say they’ll @font-face to refer to their ttfs first and then write back-up code for their IE eots, their IE ‘alternative’ is much more secure and far more flexible.

]]> By: Pablo Impallari http://astheria.com/design/the-right-proposal-for-type-on-the-web/comment-page-1#comment-15557 Pablo Impallari Fri, 17 Jul 2009 06:05:42 +0000 http://astheria.com/?p=110#comment-15557 As Ryan Roberts says: it’ll will cracked in no time. As Ryan Roberts says: it’ll will cracked in no time.

]]> By: Jonathan Hoefler http://astheria.com/design/the-right-proposal-for-type-on-the-web/comment-page-1#comment-15555 Jonathan Hoefler Fri, 17 Jul 2009 03:25:39 +0000 http://astheria.com/?p=110#comment-15555 Just a note to say thanks for your support, Kyle. Joey, for what it's worth, nothing in .webfont is incompatible with Typekit, which is why you'll see that they've just come out in favor of it as well. I'm glad to have their support as well. http://blog.typekit.com/2009/07/16/why-we-support-the-new-webfont-proposal/ Kindest Regards, Jonathan Just a note to say thanks for your support, Kyle.

Joey, for what it’s worth, nothing in .webfont is incompatible with Typekit, which is why you’ll see that they’ve just come out in favor of it as well. I’m glad to have their support as well.

http://blog.typekit.com/2009/07/16/why-we-support-the-new-webfont-proposal/

Kindest Regards,

Jonathan

]]> By: Kyle Meyer http://astheria.com/design/the-right-proposal-for-type-on-the-web/comment-page-1#comment-15552 Kyle Meyer Thu, 16 Jul 2009 22:59:58 +0000 http://astheria.com/?p=110#comment-15552 When it comes to getting around the DRM, that's a given. No solution is bullet proof, but as Stuart said above, those people weren't likely to purchase the typeface to begin with. So it's no loss to the foundry at the end of the day. It's still enough of a hurdle to keep their paying customers paying, and secure them a new market of paying customers with interactive designers. When it comes to getting around the DRM, that’s a given. No solution is bullet proof, but as Stuart said above, those people weren’t likely to purchase the typeface to begin with. So it’s no loss to the foundry at the end of the day. It’s still enough of a hurdle to keep their paying customers paying, and secure them a new market of paying customers with interactive designers.

]]> By: Simon Pascal Klein http://astheria.com/design/the-right-proposal-for-type-on-the-web/comment-page-1#comment-15548 Simon Pascal Klein Thu, 16 Jul 2009 19:32:12 +0000 http://astheria.com/?p=110#comment-15548 It’s an intriguing proposal, that at first glance seems easily reverse-engineer-able: all I’d need to do is grab the .webfont file, extract it and edit the URLs within the info.xml property. Next re-compress it back up and upload it to wherever I’ve specified. Before really putting my shoulder behind any single solution I’m going to wait to see what the folks behind Typekit come up with. It’s an intriguing proposal, that at first glance seems easily reverse-engineer-able: all I’d need to do is grab the .webfont file, extract it and edit the URLs within the info.xml property. Next re-compress it back up and upload it to wherever I’ve specified.

Before really putting my shoulder behind any single solution I’m going to wait to see what the folks behind Typekit come up with.

]]> By: David Link http://astheria.com/design/the-right-proposal-for-type-on-the-web/comment-page-1#comment-15544 David Link Thu, 16 Jul 2009 15:10:48 +0000 http://astheria.com/?p=110#comment-15544 This sounds like a possible solution. I'm always happy to see <em>any</em> progression on @font-face. Does this mean that a font will have to be re-licensed/re-purchased for each domain its used on? This sounds like a possible solution. I’m always happy to see any progression on @font-face. Does this mean that a font will have to be re-licensed/re-purchased for each domain its used on?

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