Safari 3.1 for Windows and Mac supports the embedding of sfnt fonts (TrueType, OpenType PS, OpenType TT) using the font-face declaration. Technically the fonts are not embedded in the website, but they are simply linked like an image file. One big dilemma though. Due to permissions you cannot legally upload commercial fonts to a public web server, thats why you are limited to only freeware fonts. In my opinion, what’s the difference from embedding types in flash, there must be a solution for this, some way to protect the fonts? I’m so tired of using only web-supported fonts. This quote from John Gruber sums up the dilemma: “The fonts you’re allowed to embed legally aren’t worth using; the fonts that are worth using aren’t embeddable.”.
But I guess this is a step in the right direction. And as always, Apple is the one to take the lead. Am I wrong? :)
Thanks to Ralf Herrmann!
+ TypeNeu
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frq Says:
I believe the main preocupation lives in the possibility of the visitor downloading the font file. That is something to concern, as we see many lousy webmasters. The folder of the font file could be easily protected, leaving us with a similar situation of a font embedded in flash or pdf.
But it may also be a violation of a font EULA, if you don’t have the rights to install a font in one more computer.
It’s a new technology, that really cheers us up. Better than the petition for Adobe to release some fonts. I gess it’s using freeware fonts for a while, until the foundries have their EULAs adapted, if they do.
tbrasington Says:
There are easier ways if you want to steal fonts than going through websites to get the font. Its the same issue with music. The companies that own the rights just haven’t evolved fast enough with the technology.
HOWEVER the more important issue here is are we going to get some more fonts that are designed to work a bit better with the screen. Serifs still stuffer from the lack of resolution in my opinion. Even Georgia, that is designed for the screen only looks good at 14pt.
RE: apple, it will just be part of their boasting on how great Safari is which annoys me. SMUG ALERT! (I guess I am annoyed as it has a bunch of features I wouldn’t mind using as a web developer but can’t as no one else uses them so they end up being a bit useless !)
tbrasington Says:
Also just to point out opera had it before safari.
frq Says:
As usual.
Opera is a very good brownser, that tends to adopt early these tipes of specification.
If it only had a add-on sysyem like firefox’s…
I agree with you that there are other easier ways to find fonts, but the possibility to download is a concern for font vendors. Aside from that, most foundries have their pricing based on how many computer the font is installed. So putting in a web server could be against the EULA.
Let’s just hope they’re not as hard minded as the record companies.
Jack Turner Says:
Gruber may be right about the current state of public domain fonts, but having this feature supported by Safari and Opera may create significant interest in developing non-commercial typefaces in the near future.
But what may be more interesting is that it appears to be quite easy to make a commercial font private by putting a 3 line .htaccess in your path. Check out the inappropriately hot pink Black Slabbath here: http://jackadam.net/misc/custom-fonts/ (of course Safari 3.1 or Opera is required to see it) Yet you can’t download the font I reference here: http://jackadam.net/misc/custom-fonts/BlackSla.otf
And all it took was this:
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://(.+\.)?jackadam\.net/ [NC]
RewriteRule .*\.(ttf|otf)$ - [F]
I apologize for the long comment; thought this would be a good community to share this trick with.
frq Says:
It is really easy to do so, Jack, but I insist that it could be a violation of the EULA. (I’m such a pain in the neck, aren’t I?)
And I was checking this page of yours right now. Actually, the latest Opera release DOES NOT support @font-face. Maybe some Opera 10 nightly pre-alpha does, but the 9.xx does not. Tt appears as version 10 will, though.
tbrasington Says:
Well the latest version of (stable) of opera may not have it but it has it in its development code since January. However it is totally irrelevant anyway as HTML 5 won’t be here for another few years as they are still working on the specification.
As mentioned above it is really easy to secure any folders that fonts are contained in unless requested by a certain file. It will just be case of the foundries being educated in this AND them realising that the screen has a lot of potential. Unlike music, type / design and the screen can work in harmony. Reason music suffers so much is that as a medium its easily exploited in terms of sharing. With design, there are far more people willing to give back an contribute to building things that will push progress with screen design. Funnily enough VIsta has some nice features that support better font rendering on screen. Something 10.5 is lacking…
However this is all, well irrelevant as none of this will be mainstream for a few years as HTML 5 is no where near ready for release. IN the meantime there are plenty of other ways for typography to get onto the screen. sIFR uses a simple JS / Flash method (http://www.mikeindustries.com/blog/sifr/) and of course there is using good old flat image files, which of course don’t have to be flat if you are using php’s truetype features.
Sorry for the rambling but this is something I feel strongly about.
ralfherrmann Says:
The referrer check is pretty useless. An HTTP REFERER is optional and can be easily faked.
Also: When you see the font, it’s already in you browser cache. You just need to find it there.
There are better ways to protect it. (See Typophile for various discussions on this topic)
Ralf
http://www.opentype.info
Jack Turner Says:
Frq, that point about the EULA is an interesting one. For that reason I may take down that demo page in a few days (after I get some more feedback). Would the sifr technique similarly violate any EULA’s? The sifr technique is clearly more secure but, if I understand this correctly, the issue is the presence of the typeface on multiple machines. And sifr does in fact grant a second computer the ability to render type using that font.
Ralfherrmann, the referer check is by no means a thorough level of security but it might constitute a reasonable enough level of security to qualify as “good faith” attempt to protect the intellectual property of the typeface. Similarly http://muxtape.com/ offer even less protection of mp3’s included in a mix yet seems to present no real harm musicians.
And thanks a lot for your feedback. I hadn’t considered either of these issues with any level of thoroughness before you guys brought them up.
tbrasington Says:
Depending on where you are buying from the EULA will probably forbid embedding anything in Flash as it is possible to extract the fronts from swfs with software.
frq Says:
The SIFR technic *might* or might not violate the EULA. We can’t say without reading it, and every foundry has particular agreements with the end user.
One might let you install in 1 to 5 computers, but forbid you from embedding it. The other might be for only one computer, but it may allow embedding.
I know that when we create fonts, we may prevent them from being embedded in a pdf. Don’t know if you can embed them in a swf, though.
tbrasington Says:
Indeed there are lots of different licensing agreements for each foundries. When a swf is created it will embed any fonts that are in type boxes that are dynamic. So with SIFR which has to use dynamic text boxes, the font is embedded and can be extracted with the right programs.
I was reading the linotype EULA and it says you must take as many precautions as possible to stop a font being extracted. Not sure what that really means when it comes to how far are you meant to go.