[thelist] font questions

[Bob Meetin]

Nan Harbison wrote:
> Hi All,
>  
> The graphics artist that designed a website I am building specified Din as
> the heading and all subheading fonts, Din Light, DIn Medium and Din Bold. I
> didn't have this font on my computer, so I had to purchase it - I purchased
> the package she directed me to, but I still don't have the light and medium,
> only a bunch of others, like Din RegularAlternative, etc.The graphics artist
> thinks people do have these fonts on their computers.
>  
> I am pretty sure that if a website specifies a font, and the computer
> viewing the page doesn't have this font, it displays as some default font,
> like Times New Roman. Is that correct?
>  
> Second question, do you think most computers come with these fonts? My
> husband checked at his office, 75 computers and none have these fonts.If
> not, is there a way to embed the font in a website without having to create
> graphics as the headers for every page so they will display as Din? (I
> didn't include this in my price!!!).
>  
> I have told the artist that I prefer to use as much text as possible, not
> graphics, because it is easier to make changes to the text and it loads
> faster. She doesn't think that would be a problem, but she has been pretty
> clueless about other web-related issues. 
>  
> Thanks!
>  
> Nan
>  
>   
Perhaps you should be talking with the business owner, not the artist?  
That is the first I have heard of this font.

Yes about the default font;  I would visit one of the sites on google 
and look up 'standard fonts'; there might be 20 or so fonts that are 
standard to many/most PC's.  This will differ from Windows to Linux to 
Mac.  Unless you want to have the computer choose, in your CSS you can 
give an order of precedence. 

Embed in a website - sounds like work.  I think there have been some 
previous strings that talk about techniques but I  have better ways to 
spend my time.  Aside from creating a few simple graphics for logo, 
header, something ornate in a fancy font, this may become a real chore.

Search engines don't read graphics - A paragraph to a client along these 
lines is a pretty strong statement. Fancy is nice but findability is sweet.

-Bob