Aesthetics also provide a strong argument for web fonts. There are many beautiful and interesting fonts that can improve aesthetics and increase visual variety on the web. Just as I am sometimes stunned by beautiful book designs, I want to be overwhelmed by beautiful web pages. And, I don’t want those beautiful pages to be made up of background images.
Håkon Wium Lie has written another call for more attention to be paid to typography on the web. I’m in complete agreement; being limited to only a small handful of ‘safe’ fonts was okay for a while, as it made people think about the best way to present those fonts; it’s fast becoming a limitation, however – when we’re using images and Flash to get around the problem, it’s way past time to address it.
The two main arguments raised in the article against font embedding – rights restrictions and aesthetics – both have the same solution: responsibility. As a website maker, it will be up to you to use fonts that you have the right to use, and to use them in a way that doesn’t look like an explosion at a print factory. Legibility must still be the first rule of web typography.
All signs indicate Opera 9.5 will be the first browser to allow font embedding using the @font-face declaration; if so, it’s another good reason why there’s so much anticipation of its release.
I’ve done a few small tweaks on the design of my blog; it’s still not the way I had it in my head – my design skills don’t match my ideas, unfortunately – but it’s getting there, at least. I’ve had a first pass at creating a logo and a matching favicon, both of which will be further developed.
The logo, strapline and article headers all make use of the Delicious font which, as well as being readable and beautiful, is also free. It works really well on screen, and I recommend it to everybody; it would be nice to see it in more widespread use, and even – who knows? – becoming a new web standard font. It certainly adds something to this site if you have it installed.
Last week, we delivered some designs to a client who had asked us to refresh the content areas of their website. We worked hard on getting the typography clearer & more readable, and when they saw the printed designs they declared themselves ‘thrilled’ and couldn’t wait to see the styles applied to the website.
Today we went back to the client and showed them the coded pages; to say they were disappointed would be an understatement. I’d worked hard on the typography and was very deflated by their reaction; the fonts appeared too jagged to them; the printed designs we’d shown had aliased fonts, and when I’d tested them on my Mac they looked fine; even on Windows, with its different aliasing, they’d still looked good to me. Obviously we’d commented beforehand that the fonts wouldn’t look the same on screen as they did on paper, but it was still a shock to our client.
So @media 2007 is over and, after a little breather, here’s a short breakdown of what I saw, in chronological order, along with links to presentations where possible.
There were lots of great, inspiring ideas, which should spin out into a few more posts in the near future.
I’m off to @media Europe this week, and looking forward to hearing presentations from some of the best in the business.
Of course there are many excellent events that take place worldwide that I can’t attend, and many presentations I’d love to see. Below are five links to slideshows from events that have taken place this year, which I’ve found interesting even without being able to see them presented.
Ostensibly about JavaScript, but also of great value to anyone who writes code. How to plan well to avoid bloated code, and how to pass that on to anyone who follows you.
An overview of Microformats, the benefits they bring to the web, and how Mozilla intends to expose them in future browsers.
Where CSS is now, what we can expect from it in the future, and which CSS 3 declarations you could be using now.
A hands-on primer in grid-based design, with plenty of examples to follow.
Why typography on the web is so poor compared to print, and what you can do to make your text look nicer.
I’m back from my holiday, with a quick look at some of the links I would have discussed in more detail had I been here…