[thelist] Typography on the web

[PXL Transmitter]

I believe the so-called TrueDoc technology developed by Bitstream was a real
breaktrough in font-embedding technology on the web. The .PFR file was
encrypted in combination with the appropriate domain. Besides the files were
kept in the browser´s cache similar to every GIF and JPEG file.

... In clear words ... The cached ".pfr" file wouldn´t be of any use for
other webmasters and designers, due to the fact that the font was compressed
in combination with a domain! Which means ... Even if you would put the
downloaded ".pfr" file on your own web server the embedded fonts won´t work
due to the fact that your domain does not match with the encrypted ".pfr"
file which contains the domain from the site where you downloaded the file.

So, I am asking you ... What more security can we have to prevent font
piracy on the web?! This technology would have been the ideal solution for
web designers and IT developers!

Besides, the TrueDoc technolgy only used the font faces which you really
needed for your web design purposes. Therefore the ".pfr" files were really
small. Between 25-40KB which is really considerable on my opinion. Once the
file has been downloaded to your browser cache, client users were able to
view every web page fast and smoothly with the designer´s chosen embedded
web font.

So, once again ... I am asking you ... what disadvantages can you see if the
w3c consortium would decide to make such a font embedding technology as a
common standard browser technology for embedding fonts into web pages on the
interent?

I can´t see ANY arguments that would speak against this breakthrough
technology! And if some typo foundries would refuse to offer their fonts for
font embedding, I am sure other typo foundries would agree ... And the ones
who refused to support typography on the web at the beginning would follow
to agree a short time after many designers are using this font embedding
technolgy. I believe many other typo designers would love to see their fonts
being used for web pages designs. I can see already banners on some typo
foundries which says:

" We are a friendly typo foundry, we support typography on the web! "

I believe this technolgy would give small typo foundries the chance to make
their fonts become usual.


graphically yours,


Marc Kleín - PXL Operator


>> Where are the fonts dear OS and browser developers?
>>
>> Do web designers still have to struggle with not even a handful of available
>> system fonts which work for MacOS X and Windows?
>>
>> It would be nice to have a couple of font families for web designers and IT
>> developers to build appealing web sites and rich content web pages in the
>> near future.
>>
>> I think most web designers would like to work with font families such as
>> Sans, Serif, Slab-Serif etc... :
>
> At screen resolutions (usually less than 100DPI) all serifs are slab
> serifs. Georgia is a good serif font for screen design because it was
> intentially designed as a slab serif, whereas Times is not intended
> as a slab serif but becomes one at low resolution anyway.
>
> The big problem that stopped font embedding was the reluctance of the
> foundries to license their fonts royalty-free, and their hesitance to
> sign off on a delivery system due to fears of piracy.
> Community-produced fonts ought to be the answer, but alas, typeface
> design is *hard*, and doesn't distribute well.
>
> V.
> --
> Viveka Weiley, Karmanaut.
> { http://www.karmanaut.com | http://www.planet-earth.org
>   http://www.MacWeb3D.org | http://sydney.siggraph.org.au }
> Hypermedia, virtual worlds, human interface, truth, beauty.



Pixel:Industries                            PXL Design Portal
The art of visual communication             http://www.pixel-industries.com

Dompfaffweg 10                              PXL Design Empire
D­81827 Munich                              http://www.pixel-empire.com
Germany | Europe | Earth One
                                            PXL Design Network
Fon +49 89 307289-70                        http://www.pixel-network.com
Fax +49 89 307289-71
operator at pixel-industries.com               PXL Design Storefront
                                            http://www.pixel-storefront.com