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

[Dave Crossland]

Ricardo,

What kind of parties do you go to?

;-)

Regards, Dave

On 29 May 2009, 6:10 AM, "ricardo lafuente" <bollecs at sollec.org> wrote:

Liam R E Quin wrote: > > Yes. Instead of giving you digital files with
limited usage controlled > by...
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
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