At 14:19 7/5/2002, Michael Everson wrote: >The only solution I see is that whatever data exists in ASCII hacks or >other web font solutions has to one day be mapped and converted to proper >Unicode sequences, if the data is to be saved. How much discussion does >this need?
I've obviously missed some of the earlier parts of this discussion, but when was it established that web font solutions implied ASCII hacks or other non-Unicode approaches. When I saw the term web font being used, I presumed it meant something like Embedded OpenType or similar server-side resource, and I'm not aware of any reason why this should not be a clean Unicode implementation. My understanding of Michael Jansson's approach is that he tries to provide readable text to any browser *in a manner best suited to that browser's capabilities*, which in effect does mean that some browsers end up with a hacked font, but this is not intrisic to his approach, only to the limitations of those particular browsers. At least in early beta versions of Fairy, there was an even worse fallback position, which rendered text in some browsers as a graphic. My understanding is also that, in all such cases, the backing string of the original website encoding is preserved and can be accessed by turning off the webfont display. I can think of all sorts of instances on today's Internet in which 'install a font' will not be an option. I have clients who want to present text on their websites in corporate typefaces that they have paid large sums of money to have designed. These typefaces are integral parts of the visual identity of these companies, and having their websites viewed in Times New Roman is not desirable. On the other hand, they do not want to distribute the fonts in which they have invested so much money and whose exclusivity is a key aspect of their value. Such companies require a server-sider webfont solution. Personally, I would be happiest to see all browsers supporting the Embedded OpenType format, because I think this provides the best results. As long as different browsers implement competing formats, I think there is a place for Michael Jansson's approach, which tries to provide the best results possible in a myriad of circumstances. John Hudson Tiro Typeworks www.tiro.com Vancouver, BC [EMAIL PROTECTED] Language must belong to the Other -- to my linguistic community as a whole -- before it can belong to me, so that the self comes to its unique articulation in a medium which is always at some level indifferent to it. - Terry Eagleton
