WebKit frees fonts in Safari

Posted on 4 Oct 2007 at 14:13

The development team behind Apple's Safari Web browser has begun implementing support for downloadable fonts in Web pages.

Currently Web designers have a limited number of fonts they can choose from - the half dozen or so that are installed by default on all computers. Any other typeface has to be rendered as a graphic but this has drawbacks: page sizes are larger at a time when people expect websites to load ever more quickly; search engines cannot index the content; and page readers for the visually impaired cannot see it. Alt tags can get round some of these issues, but it would be much easier if designers could deliver fonts as required.

That is what the @font-face rule in CSS permits. The feature has been implemented in the latest build of WebKit, the working beta of Safari 3. The result can be seen in the two images above. The left-hand images shows some HTML rendered in Safari 2; the right-hand shows the same HTML displayed by WebKit.

The feature is enabled in WebKit r26036, which can be installed and run without affecting any existing Safari installation.

A List Apart explains how @font-face is implemented in CSS and includes a discussion of the legal issues surrounding font copyrights. It offers no clues to when it will be widely implemented in Web browsers.

Author: Simon Aughton

Get more reviews, tutorials and in-depth advice, every month with Computer Shopper.
Click here to try 3 issues for £1

< Previous News : General Next >

Be the first to comment on this article

You need to Login or Register to comment.