[thelist] multi platform fonts

[Shirley Kaiser, SKDesigns]

At 08:10 AM 04/29/2001, you wrote:
>In the wee hour of 01:21 AM 4/29/01 -0700, Shirley Kaiser, SKDesigns 
>bequeathed such tales as these:
>>Peter, I've done tons of research on this, as this question seems to come 
>>up rather frequently at various discussion lists. Check out 
>>WebsiteTips.com's design section: <http://www.websitetips.com/design/>.
>
>Shirley, I think tons is a little modest!  With the addition of so many 
>newer applications and all their associated font packs there seems to be 
>far less restriction than before.  Especially with MS Publisher 2000 and 
>it's 23,566 kb Arialuni font pack and others like it, things should prove 
>interesting I hope.
>Peter Kaulback

Hi, Peter,

You have a good point that there seems to be less restriction. I'd be 
curious to know the market share of the newer programs like MS Publisher 
2000, just how many people have things like that, percentages of users with 
various programs, and then keep those things in mind with designating your 
fonts.

My greatest concern with font issues is how the sizing of them can appear 
so different in various browsers and platforms, at least in terms of how it 
impacts wrapping and the overall layout.... making sure the layout will 
work fine with these differences. If you had a chance to look at some of 
the screen shots, it's really quite astonishing to see. I'd be guessing 
that there would be comparable differences branching out to try other 
fonts. It would be interesting to see.

I'd still suggest allowing for some of the basic fonts in your font 
designations, though, keeping in mind that while you could go for using 
some newer ones within MS Publisher 2000 that you may have other fonts 
being seen rather than your first choice, especially with PC vs. Macs.

As long as you allow for such things and also make sure they render well on 
the Web, then you should be fine. Some fonts don't look so good on the Web, 
as you may know. I'd be especially careful in smaller sizes, as they may 
look clear on one platform and be either fuzzed out or otherwise unreadable 
on another platform.

I personally tend to stay more conservative with my font designations and 
leave the more unusual fonts for graphic titles, but still being careful 
that they render well on the Web.

The world of web design has also been such an interesting one for me, with 
fonts being an important part of that, of course, both via HTML and within 
graphics. I've found it to be an interesting challenge to get pages to look 
great regardless of browser and platform. It can be like climbing Mt. 
Everest sometimes, but it's also rewarding.

I'm also a big advocate of browser standards. :-) All the workarounds get 
more than a little old.

Warmly,
Shirley

-- 
Shirley E. Kaiser, M.A.
SKDesigns  mailto:skaiser at skdesigns.com
Website Development  http://www.skdesigns.com/
Pianist, Composer  http://www.shirleykaiser.com/
Moderator, I-Design http://www.adventive.com/lists/idesign/summary.html