[OpenFontLibrary] typekit - possible solution for foundries for fonts on the web?

[ricardo lafuente]

Liam R E Quin wrote:
> Yes. Instead of giving you digital files with limited usage controlled
> by software, they don't let you have the file at all.
>
> "At least we don't have to wear leg-irons when we walk outside"
> "Right, they solved that by keeping us indoors"
>   

totally true and a great point, and as kottke points out in a quick 
report (http://www.kottke.org/09/05/typekit-real-fonts-for-the-web), 
that's pretty darn close to the Youtube model.

some relevant differences regarding online type, though:

* support for embedding the fonts is already mostly there, whereas 
support for embedded video in HTML took quite some time after Youtube et 
al did it with Flash

* libre video hosting facilities, likewise, took some time to appear; 
with OFL, there's already some headway (OFL is there, Typekit is 
vaporware so far)

* fonts are much less an active element of an online experience -- i'll 
happily watch 10 videos on Youtube, forward them to my friends and 
forget about them the next day; online fonts aren't really the kind of 
subject you'd bring up at a party, or share with anyone other than a 
type designer or web developer.

* which reminds me -- with Typekit, you're not supposed to share, just 
watch a font being used in a page. So the OFL model has still a major 
selling point compared to TypeKit -- no dependency on 'upstream', 
ability to download and edit, FLOSS approach to filling out gaps (e.g. i 
doubt they'll support non-latin alphabets out from the start), and no 
financial compromise of any sort.

> But the good side is that they're helping (perhaps) to fuel demand.
>   

totally -- i usually try to convince people to switch to a free tool by 
mentioning 'it's does the stuff InIllusShop does, but it's free, open, 
transparent, scriptable, community-driven [...]'. Maybe having a 
proprietary tool to compare with might be a good thing for doing PR 
(much as the EOT page on the OFL wiki helps make a point regarding open 
fonts).

ricardo