If you are excited about the newer web browser software being able to make use of a myriad of fonts then I guess that you are a web designer. However, if you are a font designer then maybe you’ve been tracking news about @font-face since 2007 with trepidation rather than excitement.

Why @font-face is good

Web designers are freed from the limitations of ‘web safe’ fonts. Websites’ designs will become even more diverse. I sincerely hope that designers will embrace both creative and functional typography.

Why @font-face is bad

The major downside of using @font-face is the legal side. It is possible to serve any font from your webserver but you may be breaking the law. The bad thing is that there will be people that do this and the implications could prove costly.

Using a copyrighted font without permission is just as illegal as uploading and serving copyrighted music or images without permission but, alas, I don’t think as many people will care or even be aware of the issue.

The future of @font-face

As more web browsers support @font-face I am certain that we will see widespread (legal and illegal) usage fairly quickly. I imagine that corporate companies will embellish their websites with bespoke fonts. There may even be an increase in people claiming to be typeface designers (which could be added to the ‘bad’ list).

Keeping website designers and type designers happy may be a struggle but there are new services that aim to keep both content by introducing new methods that allow fonts to be used legally. The main contender seems to be Typekit, but Kernest may be worth keeping an eye on.

“As a Typekit user, you’ll have access to our library of high-quality fonts. Just add a line of JavaScript to your markup, tell us what fonts you want to use, and then craft your pages the way you always have. Except now you’ll be able to use real fonts. This really is going to change web design.”

Introducing TypeKit written by Jeffrey Veen

“I want a YouTube of typefaces. Easily created, open to everyone to easily embed-able.”

Garrick Van Buren creator of kernest.com

Kernest enables legal web fonts

Kernest offers a comprehensive range of fonts that are free to use and it is really easy to find fonts by style, foundry or designer. You can build a list of fonts for comparison and select those which you would like to use on your website.

To use fonts listed on Kernest you must sign up (simple, just email and password). For each font you want to use you must provide the base URL of the website you will be using it on. That done, Kernest generates and hosts a CSS file with the @font-face decarations and you are provided with the CSS file link via your profile page. Then it is simply a case of using font-family in your own CSS to declare the font you chose. All the fonts are also hosted on Kernest.

As you provide the domain where you want to use the font Kernest is able to stop other domains accessing your personallised style sheet (illustrated below). It also prevents unregistered websites from linking to the fonts on Kernest’s servers directly. This system means that paid fonts could be added in the future.

I created a file that included the link to my kernest.com generated stylesheet and style the text accordingly, then uploaded the same file to two different domains. Only blog24.co.uk had been registered with Kernest.

Some lucky people have been given a preview to the Typekit service. Andy Clarke (For A Beautiful Web) is one such being and has written about his first impressions of Typekit, with a number of screenshots. Overall, the service looks very easy to use and looks a lot more refined than Kernest.

I noticed that the Subsets (in the sidebar) has not been enabled during the preview. However, I also noticed earlier today that Jeff Veen’s screenshot does give a clue to what the Subsets are. By selecting a subset of a font, I think it will be possible to shave off a few kilobytes for speedier font downloads.

Conclusion

Overall the I see @font-face as a good thing if used legally. Less limits, more creativity.

Kernest is great, but I can’t wait to try TypeKit.

I first started researching the possibilities of web typography some time ago. More so when I began to consider redesigning this blog a few months ago (at the moment it just seems too cramped).

I’ve been reading a lot about web typography, @font-face and numerous opinions and issues — here’s some of the things I’ve been reading.

Tutorials and Resources

“Linking to the fonts on this site explodes your typeface repertoire. And far from cutting into the profits of type designers, these typefaces enable everyone to get closer to the typography they dream of – perhaps in scripts that they have never before been able to use online.”

Open Font Library

• webfonts.info offers information about browser support and where to find fonts.
• Beautiful fonts with @font-face a super tutorial with plenty of linked resources.
• webtypography.net provides an indepth look at web typography based upon the book The Elements of Typographic Style.
• A guide to web typography from ilovetypography.com

Twitter

• font Bio: Account for downloadable webfonts: @font-face (by Tobias Otte)
• kernest Bio: Tracking @font-face.
• typekit Bio: Bringing real fonts to the web. From your friends at Small Batch Inc.
• fontdeck Bio: Real typefaces for your website. (I’ve heard fontdeck mentioned in the same sentance as Kernest and TypeKit but the website seems to have been unplugged and their twitter account had seen just one update until today.)
• fontbureau Bio: We sell fonts. Typefaces, actually, but you can get fonts too.

Notable

• An Interview With Kernest’s Garrick Van Buren on readableweb.com
• The Sad State of Today’s Web Typography from chank.com.
• Ubiquitous web font embedding just got a step closer — Web Directions
• CSS @ Ten: The Next Big Thing — published in August 2007 but still relevant.
• How TypeKit Will Work by The Brads — a comic about web design.
• @font-face: The Potential of Web Typography — An example of what can be done with @font-face (commissioned by the Mozilla foundation).
• css3.info (self explanatory!)
• An Interview with The Font Bureau’s David Berlow “To understand issues surrounding web fonts from the type designer’s perspective, we interviewed David Berlow, co-founder of The Font Bureau, Inc.” Jeffery Zeldman
• From Default Fonts To All Fonts (in two easy steps?) David Berlow’s proposal for OpenType Permissions.
• Web fonts now (how we’re doing with that) – Jeffrey Zeldman

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• links for 2008-11-14
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• Zemanta — resource integration for bloggers
• links for 2009-03-02
• Track the Most Popular Websites Being Twittered

Imagine having a dymanic resource of related images, links and even tags that changes as you are typing a post for your blog. Enter Zemanta which seamlessly intergrates with your blogging platform whether you use WordPress, Tumblr, MySpace, Blogger, Ning to name a few.

There are a few ways to take advantage of what Zemanta offers. There are plugins for WordPress, MovableType and Drupal or it can be added to your web browser by way of an extention/plugin or even a bookmarklet.

To test Zemanta I installed the FireFox Extention. All the links within the text so far were added instantly with a single click. The Zemanta logo was also suggested by the service (along with the logos of the previously mentioned blogging platforms) and it was a simple case of dragging and dropping it in. Below are 3 web pages that were also recommended by Zemanta and added within seconds. Lots of resources added to a post very quickly.

The only minor downside is the additional (sometimes superfluous) HTML, that is added to your post, especially when you use one of the suggested images. In the example above there is even a ‘div’ tag that serves absolutely no purpose, it has no ‘id’ or ‘class’ attributes. You could edit and delete any HTML that you deem to be superfluous, but doing that would be counterproductive.

However, many elements do have ‘class’ attributes that would allow Zemanta content to be styled via CSS. If you were to use Zemanta on a regular basis it would be worth taking the time to create a style sheet so elements that you add using the service are in keeping with your blog’s design.

If related articles have been added with Zemanta, a link that reads, “5 more fresh articles…” is added. Unfortunately (at the time of writing) clicking this link reports an error, however, when working I’m sure that this simply loads and displays more related articles as suggested by Zemanta. (Indeed it does. Five additional links were neatly added to the list of related links.)

Finally a ‘reBlog’ button is automatically added at the bottom of your post. This makes it easy for readers to blog about your post by providing a quote and, “full attribution and a backlink.” At the time of writing I can’t test this feature but try it for yourself. The best way to see how this feature works is to try it. You’ll be presented with the Zemanta editor where you can easily select a paragraph to quote and a link back to this post will be generated. Once you have finished your reBlog entry you have the option to publish directly or copy the HTML. On the Zemanta website it says, “it’s like reTweet (RT) on Twitter, but for Blogs,” which seems like a fair description.

My only complaint about the reBlog feature is that the title of the post you are reblogging is not presented within the post. Secondly the title generated if you use the publish option rather than copying the HTML is less than satisfactory. (For example, “reBlog from co.uk: Blog24″ is the title provided if decide to reBlog and publish this post.)

Overall I do think that many blog writers will find Zemanta useful. The suggested links alone is a great timesaver, especially if your post mentions a number of people or companies.

Give it a go and let me know what you think.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Zemanta makes blogging while drinking easier (freakthenet.wordpress.com)
• Tutorial: Zemanta bookmarklet for Google Chrome (zemanta.com)
• Enhance your emails and blog posts with Zemanta (read2know.com)

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You decide if it has actually been done or very cleverly faked.

No matter whether this is real or fake it is close to the touchscreen tablet computer that I would like to see Apple release soon. Although I would hope that Apple would create something a bit smaller though, perhaps with a 12 inch widescreen.

Found at dreamfield.se

UPDATE: It’s a fake…

We simply wanted to see how many hits we could generate during a given period of time by only using YouTube and Twitter as channels. Of course the idea was also to inspire developers and manufacturers to completely new uses of multi-touch.

iPhone/iPod Viral Experiment

Excellent work guys!

More »

• Make the Apple App Store backward compatible
• Apple’s Steve Jobs Announces iPod Nano 4G
• links for 2009-01-13
• Mini iPhone Available
• links for 2008-08-13 [delicious.com]

I wanted to keep it simple and logical. It even looks good on IE1.5! Here’s what it looks like on an iPod Touch (Safari):

I’m sure you’ll sleep better tonight safe in the knowledge that you will now know how to find me on Flickr, Twitter, Facebook and so on…

More »

• Flickr and Twitter on BBC Sport
• iPod OS on a Mac Pro? True or False?
• Make the Apple App Store backward compatible
• Tired of Facebook Apps?
• links for 2009-01-13

When Apple release the new iPhone Operating System (3.0) they will remove applications which are not compatible with the update from the App Store. Is it time to make the App Store backward compatible?

iPhone App developers encouraged yet warned

Apple have been encouraging iPhone App developers to create new apps for iPhone OS 3.0 for some time. In addition to developing new apps developers are also encouraged to test old apps to make sure that they are also compatible with the impending iPhone OS release (if not make them so). This encouragement from Apple seems reasonable and logical, yet it has been tainted with the warning that compatibility issues could lead to some applications being removed from Apple’s App Store.

When I first read about this I immediately thought that Apple were being inconsiderate. Initially I thought that Apple will be removing all apps that would not work on an iPod (or  iPhone) that was not running the third major release of the iPhone operating system. However, it is now my understanding that a current iPhone OS 2.x application that is made compatible with version 3.0 will still work on iPods and iPhones running OS 2.x.

The Future will bring compatibility issues

We all know that technology progresses at a terrific rate. How long before there is a newer, better iPhone or iPod Touch? Three months, six months, a year perhaps? (Surely not a whole year!) There is no doubting that there will be new iPhones and new iPods and maybe a new device that Apple have not even thought of yet. What is new today will become old and one day today’s iPhones and iPods will not be compatible with the latest iPhone OS.

These new products will, of course , feature cutting edge technologies which make us wonder how we coped in the past.

Now imagine a time when there are a number of devices (old and new) that run different versions of iPhone Operating Systems. Will Apple continue to remove older versions of applications on its iTunes App Store, simply because they don’t run on the latest release of the iPhone OS?

Improving the App Store

Apple should act now by making simple changes to the iTunes App Store and the App Store application on the iPhone and iPod Touch.

The software we use to look and download new applications should be made ‘device aware’.

For example when someone uses App Store on an iPod Touch they should not been shown the great Apps that will either lack functionality or simply will not work on their iPod. I am sure it would be really easy for Apple to add such filters. Taken further Apple could filter out Apps that would not work with the operating system that the device is currently using.

Making iTunes on a Mac or PC ‘device aware’ would be possible too. If you own and sync an iPhone with OS2.1 using iTunes then make sure only compatible apps are shown in the iTunes App Store. Of course there should be the option to switch such a function off, so users can see every application available, regardless of which device they actually own and which iPhone OS it uses.

Take a look at the Apple Store and you can choose suitable accessories for your iPod, whether it is the latest Shuffle or even a pre-Nano iPod Mini. To find suitable accessories Apple make it super easy by adding ‘Shop by Type’. A simple idea where the correct iPod is chosen from the extensive list and the user is presented with compatible accessories.

If it can be done for accessories — why not applications?

More »

• iPod OS on a Mac Pro? True or False?
• New Apple iPods to be Announced Tomorrow
• Apple to Make iTunes 8 and iPod Accessible to the Blind
• links for 2009-01-13
• Apple to Release iTunes 8 and New iPod Nano?

20 Resources to Get You Started with WordPress from Scratch

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The familiar ring of buttons has gone leaving the Shuffle’s facia blank. Now the iPod Shuffle is controlled via the simplified three button control which are found on the earphones cable. A single click on the centre button will play or pause music, a double click will skip to the next track and a triple click will select the last track.

What’s playing?

There has never been a display on any of the iPod Shuffles making impossible to check what song you are actually listening to is called or who it is by. Apple have solved that now by introducing ‘Voiceover’. There is still no screen, but on request the Shuffle will tell you what song is playing and by which band, this is enabled by pressing and holding the aforementioned middle button.

Organised shuffling with playlists.

Another neat feature that has been incorporated into the new Shuffle are playlists. Like the rest of the iPod range playlists are created and added using Apple iTunes. To switch between lists press and hold the centre control button until a tone is heard and the next playlist will be announced using Voiceove and your list will begin to play.

The new iPod Shuffle retails at £59 in the UK and $79 in the US. At the moment the 2nd generation 1Gb iPod Shuffle is still available for £31 ($49), but this might not be for too long. In fact it is likely that the new Shuffle will be available in a choice of colours, much like the 2nd generation Shuffles and current iPod Nano lineup. Currently the new iPod Shuffle is only available in either silver or black.

More »

• How Apple Could Improve iTunes Genius
• iTunes Becomes a Genius
• Apple to Make iTunes 8 and iPod Accessible to the Blind
• New Apple iPods to be Announced Tomorrow
• iPod OS on a Mac Pro? True or False?

More »

• links for 2009-03-02
• links for 2009-01-07
• links for 2009-02-10
• links for 2009-01-18
• Initial Thoughts About Google New Web Browser

Web Design Toolbox: 130+ New Tools to Make You a Better and Faster Designer

Talent helps too.

(tags: design reference list resources resource)

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• links for 2008-12-16
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