Web fonts slowly picking up pace

Web fonts have been adopted by all major web browsers. What Firefox 3.1+ w/ Noscript users might not know is that Noscript blocks “font face” by default so they do not get to see nice fonts. There are two easy ways though to enable web fonts:

1. Left-click Noscript icon on the bottom right corner of the browser’s window and enable all “font@” entries in “Blocked Objects”. This will temporarily allow web fonts on the current page.
2. To enable web fonts permanently left-click Noscript icon on the bottom right corner of the browser’s window and select “Options”. Select tab “Embeddings” and uncheck “Forbid @font-face” and click “ok”.

 

Do we actually need web fonts?

Yes and no.

Yes: Typography enthusiasts have been waiting for years. Now browsers have widely adopted web fonts and every now and then even a free (to use) font comes along. The time for web fonts is now. And why should print designers have fonts and web designers should not? If man can travel into space the web should have web fonts.

No: Have I been waiting for web fonts? Certainly not. The web got along very well for 16 years without web fonts. I like the web the way it is. Bad readability was mostly caused by bad colors only. To me, web fonts primarily are just another possibility of hurting someone’s eyes.

Beware though: Most fonts have strict licenses which do not allow web distribution. So web designers have to resort to fonts with liberal licenses, Bitstream Vera and Droid Sans being two of them. Check font licences carefully before jumping on the web fonts train!