WDTalk

Have you ever wondered why that beautifully designed site you created looks fabulous on your PC, but not on others – aside from differences in browsers? Why does that bold font that screams BUY ME on my PC display as Times Roman on my wife’s computer?

The answer is that fonts are operating system resources, meaning you can see that font only when it’s installed on the specific PC that is viewing your site. Default fonts rarely resemble the font you intended.

Is that font a must have?
If you absolutely need that font on your website, it is possible to set up your site so that others can view it as you do on your computer, but that comes at a price, not in money, but …

Embedded Fonts
It is possible to embed fonts on your website, so when your wife or another visitor views your site, that beautiful font will embed itself on their computer, enabling them to see what you see at your PC. The downside is that this adds another layer to your site. That layer is download time, sometimes as much as 20 to 25k per font.

Who is Your Target Audience?
If your target audience is rural Illinois, then download speed is critically important, as much of the rural Midwest is still locked into dial-up. On the other hand, if your target audience is urban America, broadband will help.

Which Font to Use?
I recently did a query for free fonts which returned nearly 12 million results. The possibilities are virtually endless. So, first you find the font you want and use it on your site, then create an embedded font file and finally, attach that font to your style sheet.

The Designer’s Dilemma
As a designer, you can’t control an individual browser’s display, but by embedding that font in the site’s Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), you can cause your font to download with the website page. A word of caution – not all designers allow their fonts to be embedded. Hmm .. An alternative solution could be to use a commercial package, such as TypeKit, a subscription-based service for linking to high-quality Open Type fonts from some of the worlds best type foundries. Their fonts are served from a global network on redundant servers, offering bulletproof service and incredible speed.