If you are excited about the newer web browser software being able to make use of a myriad of fonts then I guess that you are a web designer. However, if you are a font designer then maybe you’ve been tracking news about @font-face since 2007 with trepidation rather than excitement.

Why @font-face is good

Web designers are freed from the limitations of ‘web safe’ fonts. Websites’ designs will become even more diverse. I sincerely hope that designers will embrace both creative and functional typography.

Why @font-face is bad

The major downside of using @font-face is the legal side. It is possible to serve any font from your webserver but you may be breaking the law. The bad thing is that there will be people that do this and the implications could prove costly.

Using a copyrighted font without permission is just as illegal as uploading and serving copyrighted music or images without permission but, alas, I don’t think as many people will care or even be aware of the issue.

The future of @font-face

As more web browsers support @font-face I am certain that we will see widespread (legal and illegal) usage fairly quickly. I imagine that corporate companies will embellish their websites with bespoke fonts. There may even be an increase in people claiming to be typeface designers (which could be added to the ‘bad’ list).

Keeping website designers and type designers happy may be a struggle but there are new services that aim to keep both content by introducing new methods that allow fonts to be used legally. The main contender seems to be Typekit, but Kernest may be worth keeping an eye on.

“As a Typekit user, you’ll have access to our library of high-quality fonts. Just add a line of JavaScript to your markup, tell us what fonts you want to use, and then craft your pages the way you always have. Except now you’ll be able to use real fonts. This really is going to change web design.”

Introducing TypeKit written by Jeffrey Veen

“I want a YouTube of typefaces. Easily created, open to everyone to easily embed-able.”

Garrick Van Buren creator of kernest.com

Kernest enables legal web fonts

Kernest offers a comprehensive range of fonts that are free to use and it is really easy to find fonts by style, foundry or designer. You can build a list of fonts for comparison and select those which you would like to use on your website.

To use fonts listed on Kernest you must sign up (simple, just email and password). For each font you want to use you must provide the base URL of the website you will be using it on. That done, Kernest generates and hosts a CSS file with the @font-face decarations and you are provided with the CSS file link via your profile page. Then it is simply a case of using font-family in your own CSS to declare the font you chose. All the fonts are also hosted on Kernest.

As you provide the domain where you want to use the font Kernest is able to stop other domains accessing your personallised style sheet (illustrated below). It also prevents unregistered websites from linking to the fonts on Kernest’s servers directly. This system means that paid fonts could be added in the future.

I created a file that included the link to my kernest.com generated stylesheet and style the text accordingly, then uploaded the same file to two different domains. Only blog24.co.uk had been registered with Kernest.

Some lucky people have been given a preview to the Typekit service. Andy Clarke (For A Beautiful Web) is one such being and has written about his first impressions of Typekit, with a number of screenshots. Overall, the service looks very easy to use and looks a lot more refined than Kernest.

I noticed that the Subsets (in the sidebar) has not been enabled during the preview. However, I also noticed earlier today that Jeff Veen’s screenshot does give a clue to what the Subsets are. By selecting a subset of a font, I think it will be possible to shave off a few kilobytes for speedier font downloads.

Conclusion

Overall the I see @font-face as a good thing if used legally. Less limits, more creativity.

Kernest is great, but I can’t wait to try TypeKit.

I first started researching the possibilities of web typography some time ago. More so when I began to consider redesigning this blog a few months ago (at the moment it just seems too cramped).

I’ve been reading a lot about web typography, @font-face and numerous opinions and issues — here’s some of the things I’ve been reading.

Tutorials and Resources

“Linking to the fonts on this site explodes your typeface repertoire. And far from cutting into the profits of type designers, these typefaces enable everyone to get closer to the typography they dream of – perhaps in scripts that they have never before been able to use online.”

Open Font Library

• webfonts.info offers information about browser support and where to find fonts.
• Beautiful fonts with @font-face a super tutorial with plenty of linked resources.
• webtypography.net provides an indepth look at web typography based upon the book The Elements of Typographic Style.
• A guide to web typography from ilovetypography.com

Twitter

• font Bio: Account for downloadable webfonts: @font-face (by Tobias Otte)
• kernest Bio: Tracking @font-face.
• typekit Bio: Bringing real fonts to the web. From your friends at Small Batch Inc.
• fontdeck Bio: Real typefaces for your website. (I’ve heard fontdeck mentioned in the same sentance as Kernest and TypeKit but the website seems to have been unplugged and their twitter account had seen just one update until today.)
• fontbureau Bio: We sell fonts. Typefaces, actually, but you can get fonts too.

Notable

• An Interview With Kernest’s Garrick Van Buren on readableweb.com
• The Sad State of Today’s Web Typography from chank.com.
• Ubiquitous web font embedding just got a step closer — Web Directions
• CSS @ Ten: The Next Big Thing — published in August 2007 but still relevant.
• How TypeKit Will Work by The Brads — a comic about web design.
• @font-face: The Potential of Web Typography — An example of what can be done with @font-face (commissioned by the Mozilla foundation).
• css3.info (self explanatory!)
• An Interview with The Font Bureau’s David Berlow “To understand issues surrounding web fonts from the type designer’s perspective, we interviewed David Berlow, co-founder of The Font Bureau, Inc.” Jeffery Zeldman
• From Default Fonts To All Fonts (in two easy steps?) David Berlow’s proposal for OpenType Permissions.
• Web fonts now (how we’re doing with that) – Jeffrey Zeldman

More »

• links for 2008-11-14
• links for 2008-08-15
• Zemanta — resource integration for bloggers
• links for 2009-03-02
• Track the Most Popular Websites Being Twittered

With this in mind I feel that this article provides a good roundup of what RSS can do for you. If you are new to using RSS, or have often wondered what that orange icon is all about then I highly recommend 30 Different Uses for RSS by Michael Fruchter.

I’m making an effort to become less reliant on visiting websites for the data I need. Spending a majority of my time in Google Reader, I decided RSS could help me accomplish this task. I no longer have to visit Yahoo to read my horoscopes or sports scores. I now track my Ebay auctions from Google Reader. These are some of the ways I started to recently use and rediscover RSS.

More »

• Flickr and Twitter on BBC Sport
• Boycotting Twitter Could Lighten The Load
• Want Ubuntu On Your Apple Mac? Use Parallels Desktop
• Initial Thoughts About Google New Web Browser
• Zemanta — resource integration for bloggers

“If this sounds familiar it’s because it’s not the first time users could upload their music to the cloud and listen to it anywhere. Michael Robertson’s MP3.com tried it in 2000 and was promptly sued for copyright infringement. They lost, shut down the service and settled for $200 million.”

Oh Boy, BlueTunes, This Looks Like Trouble To Me

Is such a service really necessary?

Having a backup is also a great idea, although you might already do that locally (I do).

If you simply need access to your whole music collection no matter where you are then bluetunes.net could be your only solution. Particularly handy if your whole collection does not fit on your Apple iPod (or other mp3 player).

With the Internet becomming more accessable via mobile [cell] phones I wonder if this type of service for music and other media will become more popular and commonplace. Due to the limited space on such devices it may become the best way to listen to music on the move.

What if iTunes did this?

Perhaps in the future Apple will intergrate a similar feature into iTunes, where tracks that you have bought are available to stream online. Taken a step further iTunes could become web based too with the iTunes store and your own collection available via any web browser. Such a leap for Apple could also be used to improve Genius too.

More »

• How Apple Could Improve iTunes Genius
• iTunes Becomes a Genius
• Twitter Client using Fluid and Hahlo with Growl
• Apple to Make iTunes 8 and iPod Accessible to the Blind
• New Apple iPods to be Announced Tomorrow

This is a great tip for Apple Mac users who utlise the microblogging service, Twitter. It is a fairly simple way of creating a client for Twitter which is accessible from the Apple menu bar (as a menu item). The method uses Hahlo that is intended for use with Apple iPhone which makes this ‘hack’ notable for its creative use of software that is freely available.

One of the the Twitter clients I started looking into is Hahlo. It’s basically a web based application used by a lot of iPhone users. You can make it into a great desktop Twitter client using the combo of Fluid, and Growl.

[From Twitter Client using Fluid and Hahlo with Growl]

Here’s the screencast to show how set-up your own menu item for Twitter.

Visit Twitter Client using Fluid and Hahlo with Growl for links to the software used.

This tutorial could be used to create a menu item for any web application. Experiment and share your creations via the comments.

More »

• Make the Apple App Store backward compatible
• Facebook Security Weakness Discovered
• Initial Thoughts About Google New Web Browser
• Screencast About MUPromo Software Bundle.
• Discounted Software for Apple Mac Users

The creators of 99designs.com are using UserVoice to allow its users to view ideas for new features and suggest their own. Using a voting system UserVoice orders the ideas in the order of popuarity and also allows comments (feedback) to be posted.

Our Motivation
On other projects we were left frustrated and overwhelmed when trying to grasp what our users really wanted. Unorganized inboxes and clogged ticket systems ruled the day. Forums were awash with duplication, user support was impossible to determine, and valuable ideas were lost in the shuffle.
UserVoice adds structure to feedback and reduces the overhead of an honest dialog with our users — it creates a market around good ideas so we get more quality than quantity.

[Rich, Lance & Marcus UserVoice]

UserVoice serves its purpose with style and efficiency. Signing up to make comments may put some people off but if they have something valid and worthy to say then I am sure it should not prove to be much of a problem for those with genuine feedback. Having to log-in is the first step to filtering out the chaff and has become commonplace in the fight against spam.

Although I have no immediate use for this service it could prove useful in the future.

More »

• Facebook Security Weakness Discovered
• Track the Most Popular Websites Being Twittered
• iTunes Becomes a Genius
• Popular FriendFeeders
• Doctor Snip’s Amusing Marketing Ploy

Google promises that their new web browser will be different from the others, with a simple user interface and improved navigation and search. At last there is a browser that combines the address and search boxes that not only searches and lists results from Google but from your history too.

The use of tabs looks to be fairly familiar. Users are able to reorder them and drag them out to make new windows and vice versa, much like Safari. What seems to be a unique feature is that each webpage (tabbed or otherwise) is a separate process, rather than the whole application being one process. This means that if a website in one tab fails or hangs the other windows and tabs are unaffected. This separation is similar to the Fluid application which allows Mac users to create a separate application for website applications such as Google’s GMail or Facebook and so on.

Why Google developed a web browser?

Since we spend so much time online, we began seriously thinking about what kind of browser could exist if you started from scratch and built on the best elements out there. We realized that the web had evolved from mainly simple text pages to rich, interactive applications and that we needed to completely rethink the browser. What we really needed was not just a browser, but also a modern platform for web pages and applications, and that’s what we set out to build.

[From Google Chrome]

At the moment Google Chrome is only available for Windows users but there are Mac and Linux versions in the pipeline. In the meantime those of you who use Windows can download Google Chrome and enjoy this promising piece of software.

Changing the future of web applications.

Could Google raise the competition between browser developers again? It is certainly looking that way which may prove to be a kick in the teeth for Firefox which has taken a number of years to become popular enough to put a slight dent in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer user figures.

I predict that Chrome will become the ‘must have’ web browser as more of us use more web-based applications whether they be social networking apps or the increasingly popular office tools such as word processors, spreadsheets and calendar software.

If Chrome is as stable and efficient as Google promise then there is sure to be a surge of new web applications that one day will perhaps make locally stored applications redundant. Hopefully the emphasis will be on quality applications that emulate the software that is available on our computers. There are a number of online application developer already out there doing this. Google is one such website offering many applications and the lesser known Aviary is another.

Whereas Google has office type tools, Aviary has web applications for the creatives of the world. Currently invite only, Aviary features tools for image editing, vector design, audio and video editing and many more. Aviary is truly incredible and unlike anything else that is currently available.

In conclusion Google’s new web browser could be the ‘next big thing’ and might change the way that the majority utilize utilise the Internet and the world wide web.

More »

• Aviary, Online Apps for Creatives
• Semantic Page Titles Improve Search Engine Optimization
• links for 2009-03-02
• Tired of Facebook Apps?
• links for 2009-02-10

“The new Delicious is just like the old del.icio.us, only faster, easier to learn, and hopefully more delightful to use and to look at.”

Oh happy day — the new Delicious is here

A short animation was also published to illustrate the differences between the old del.icio.us and the redesign:

A year in Beta

This redesign has been in the pipeline for over a year and early previews gave a clear indication of what was to be expected of the new site. However the aforementioned blog post by The Delicious Team also indicated that new features are in development and may be added in the near future.

“It has taken us a while to get here, and we really appreciate all the patience and support you’ve shown us. Now that our new platform is in place we expect to release new features more quickly.”

For more information about the changes take a look at the Delicious What’s New page.

Best comment about the redesign so far?

By DrFunke on digg.com:

“Hmm, now I can’t access it from work because the network nannies think delicious.com is a porn site. Anyone else having this problem?”

More »

• delicious.com screenshot
• New Reddit UI and Features Leaked
• WordPress 2.5 is Available!
• WordPress 2.5 RC2 and Gallery Screencast
• Introducing the Blog

Simply Noise has one function, to provide ‘white noise’ when you need it — that’s it! White noise is said to be useful for many reasons. According to simplynoise.com these include:

• Aid Sleep
• Enhance Privacy
• Block Distractions
• Mask Tinnitus
• Configure Audio Equipment
• Soothe Migraines

Since finding simplynoise.com I have let it run in the background while browsing on the web and when writing. I have it running now and it is ‘blurring’ background noise of chatter and the children playing allowing me to concentrate better with the task in hand. I am listening to the white noise through headphones so not to get strange looks and not disturb others.

White noise is a personal thing and I would not dream of blasting it through the hi-fi in order to drown out audible distraction. I imagine that white noise would aid getting to sleep, something that I often cannot do with ease. It may be time to add an hour or so white noise track to my iPod.

Simple Design

What I really like about simplynoise.com is the design, which is simple too. There is only one control, volume and it is obvious what it does. I particularly like the visual indication too — that’s a neat functional addition.

Here’s a quick screen capture of the website in action — although it’s probably quicker to visit simplynoise.com and have a play with it yourself!

More »

• Software That Aids Productivity
• Mixwit is a Hit for Creating Mixtapes
• Apple Shrink The iPod Shuffle Again
• Mac Software Bundle Now Available
• Make the Apple App Store backward compatible

“12 websites that use cutting edge javascript tricks to scroll or slide the viewing window and the different ways the effect is used for user experience, effect, and design.”

12 Websites That Slide And Scroll With Javascript

One of the websites featured in the list (Sroon) is not a good example of a scrolling site. However, one of the designs featured on Sroon is – icametoplay.org.

More »

• links for 2008-12-13
• Initial Thoughts About Google New Web Browser
• Digital Artist Toolbox: An Inspiration For Designers And Illustrators
• New Design Makes Bookmarking Site Delicious [dot com]
• Some Amusing Spam Comments Caught By Akismet

The BBC’s technology programme Click has exposed a security flaw in the social networking site Facebook which could compromise privacy.

BBC Exposes Facebook Flaw

This BBC report claims to expose the security problem even though it is noted in the Facebook Terms and Conditions, as Spencer Kelly mentions in his report.

Is the BBC overreacting? This report ought to make people think more about their online safety and that is a good thing.

Facebook is great — BUT

Facebook makes sharing photos and messages with family or a group of friends really easy. It has proved to be popular for this reason. Unfortunately Facebook also makes it easy for new, often pointless, applications to be added. While the idea of users to be able to add to the Facebook experience with their apps is commendable the reality is less so. While Facebook may be aware of security issues caused by unscrupulous app developers there seems to be little done about the quality of the application that are being added to the social networking site.

The result is a vast array of meaningless games and features that clog the Facebook system. All too often these apps require many invites in order ‘work’, thus promoting, and doubtlessly gathering more user data, through Facebook’ user base. It not until you have invited so many fellow Facebook users that you realise just how truly shit worthless many Facebook applications are.

With over 70 million users worldwide increasing by 250,000 a day Facebook ought to make those users more aware of the security issues that social networking presents.

I do feel that BBC report may cause some people to overreact, perhaps even delete their accounts.

My advice to Facebook users is to check the privacy options, these are found via a link at the top of your Facebook page.

Next, consider the quality and long-term usefulness of the applications they choose to invite their contacts to use. Just how many wall-type apps do you need?

A slightly off topic tip is to share internet content using the ‘Share on Facebook’ bookmarklet. This can be found on your ‘My Posted Items’ page [see image on the right] — more information about Posted Items can be found on Facebook. It is a lot easier than finding and posting pictures and videos via the aforementioned Wall apps. It is a lot faster too.

For security tips Click, the BBC programme responsible for the video report have also created a useful list

Click’s Facebook security advice
If you are worried about Click’s investigation into the potential risk of identity theft by third-party applications on Facebook (1 May, 2008), here is our advice.

Photo of Facebook HQ by pshab.

More »

• Tired of Facebook Apps?
• Making Big Brother History
• Initial Thoughts About Google New Web Browser
• How Apple Could Improve iTunes Genius
• WordPress 2.6 Released