"Now that we have a great choice of fonts that can be used on websites, it becomes clear that the translation of a design into pixels is not something that happens naturally or consistently. OS makers apply different strategies to render how typefaces are displayed, and these have evolved greatly over time (and still continue to do so). As we now look closer at fonts on screen more than ever before, we realize that the rendering of these glyphs can differ significantly between systems and font formats. What’s more, it has become clear that even well-designed fonts may not look right on Windows if they are missing one crucial added ingredient: hinting."

Great review of @font-face performance by Dave Artz: http://t.co/CqPOUaBY

Test custom fonts in the browser.

Easy to forget.

With a nice table included.

Nasty, nasty hacks.

Explaining why some fonts often look like shit on XP with Chrome.

Not entirely convinced. See related HN discussion.

Just in case, like.

"What we can do is push the evolution of font makers and services. Next time you’re shopping for type, don’t just look for your favorite face as a webfont. Ask for more"...

Thrilling, edge-of-seat stuff.

Subversion doesn't support resource forks, which is why committing PostScript font files doesn't work.

"Because web type renders differently with only subtle CSS adjustments, seeing it exercised in a variety of ways can help web designers typeset—and also help them decide which typefaces to purchase for their projects."

Reasonable arguments against the current state of @font-face. "I want sIFR to die as much as the next person but I’m still too apprehensive to use @font-face embedding in my projects. Without being able to present a simple, open, self-hosted path on how to include custom fonts on a site, I can’t see clients signing-off."

"It’s time for a CSS3 @font-face browser sup­port table. One that doc­u­ments spe­cific­ally how browsers act when either the whole font fam­ily is spe­cified (reg­u­lar, italic, bold, bold-italic & small-caps) or only the reg­u­lar ver­sion of the font is spe­cified."

"More than 30 of the most successful FontFont families are now available as Web FontFonts®, including FF DIN®, FF Meta®, FF Dax®, and FF Kievit®."

"These font-stacks are created after considering the font-share percentage on both Mac and Windows platforms and then checked in browser for x-height and other issues (like: readability)."

Expensive, hefty looking font server.

"A bookmarklet for typographically obsessed web designers. It enables rapid checking of fonts and font styles directly in the browser without editing code and refreshing pages."

Hosted @font-face. For cash, of course.

Ouch. "My first piece of advice is to avoid using @font-face unless it’s critical to the page. The primary reason for this advice is that font files block rendering of the entire page in IE until they’re done downloading. Stylesheets also have this problem. But stylesheets provide styling for all aspects of the entire page, whereas font files only add one thing - a custom font."

"Bottom line: the font sucks. This should not be a surprise. Most free fonts do. Don’t get me wrong. There are a few great free fonts out there. But 98% of free fonts suck badly, and maybe about 20% of typically-priced retail fonts suck badly, so set your expectations appropriately."

"Far from delivering the look BoingBoing was going for, @font-face fell flat on its face; when the changes went live Tuesday, not only were the fonts Boing Boing wanted to use not legally available for the web, the font it settled on — specifically BPreplay — ended up looking terrible for most users."

Font-as-a-service.

@font-face tests. "The same typeface looks very differently on different platforms, and even on the same platform if settings differ."

"The Typography Manual has several useful features and resources for designers, including a visual type anatomy glossary, a font size ruler, an em calculator, and enough content to fill a 60 page book. It has all the essentials of a desk reference in a regularly updated pocket resource."

"This, then, is my current thinking about embedded web fonts: FUCK THE FOUNDRIES." Mark Pilgrim rants.

More on font stacks.

Excellent presentation on current state of web fonts/methods and typography. Grab the version with the notes.

A possible sIFR alternative. "Fast text replacement with canvas and VML - no Flash or images required."

"As you probably know @font-face already works in Safari 3 via WebKit and is supported in the latest Firefox 3.1 beta. With IE, that means around 75% of the world audience could see custom typefaces today if their EULAs allowed it. Fortunately, there are good free faces available to us already, as well as some commercial faces that permit embedding."

"Instead of creating images or using flash just to show your site's graphic text in the font you want, you can use typeface.js and write in plain HTML and CSS, just as if your visitors had the font installed locally. This is a work in progress, but functional enough."

"An online tool that allows you to create sIFR .swf files with a few clicks of your mouse. Simply upload the TTF font of the font you want to convert, preview and download."

"I’d like to encourage designers to open their mind and consider using some of the other typefaces that are often pre-installed on computers these days." 4 years back and most people still aren't really doing this.

"MobileSafari is limited, however, by the fonts installed on the iPhone.2 Here’s the list.:

I have put together a matrix of (western) fonts showing which are installed with Mac and Windows operating systems, which are installed with various versions of Microsoft Office, and which are installed with Adobe Creative Suite.

"Web Safe Typography on Screen for Pixel Perfectionists"

"JavaScript code to Detect available Fonts using JavaScript and CSS."

"My opinion is still that using % in the body and em for units is superior is it allows for text resizing in IE/win, is less browser specific (both methods are foiled by the typographical workings of IE5, but the Keyword Approach stumbles in some versions

"On the Web, vertical rhythm – the spacing and arrangement of text as the reader descends the page – is contributed to by three factors: font size, line height and margin or padding. All of these factors must calculated with care in order that the rhy

"A practical guide to web typography"

"Seven new fonts that will be part of the new Windows O/S, codenamed Longhorn."

Quick fonts on t'web roundup.

"Make a list. Tested typefaces that are rock-solid reliable for print, web, or both."

"Em Calculator is a small JavaScript tool which helps making scalable and accessible CSS design. It converts size in pixels to relative em units, which are based on a text size."

"A font for programming must be monospaced, extremely readable, and must sharply distinguish between similar characters, such as capital O and zero and the number 1, capital I, and lowercase L. In addition, good programming fonts allow you to view more li

"A repository of sIFR fonts along with TrueType and PostScript fonts."

Very specific circumstances for this bug, but come across them far too often.

"A creative project run by four russian type designers. Day by day, they create original typefaces and post their results along with routine."