Re: A New Attribute For The Font Tag In HTML 5

Jace Voracek wrote:
>   I have recently been thinking of ways to contribute to the HTML 5.0 
> Project because I have new ideas to create a better World Wide Web, and 
> my most recent desire for 5.0 is related to HTML Fonts. The problem I 
> noticed occurs when some types of computer operating systems or Web 
> browsers receive the NULL Square characters that occasionally appear 

Missing glyph.  It is font dependant.  Incidentally, Mozilla based 
browsers, on Linux, show a box with the Unicode code.

> with unfamiliar fonts or that computers by default replace the font with 
> another font. I would like for there to be a way to load fonts from the 
> internet into a web page from a server. For example, we could create an 

Wrong list.  Font downloading has been extensively discussed on 
www-style@w3.org over the last fortnight.  The big problem is over 
copyright enforcement, or lack of it.  Note that IE has supported 
downloadable fonts for more than half a decade.

> attribute to load the font from a server and display it on the web page, 
> therefore the user is not required to have the font saved to his/her 
> computer.
> 
> For this example, I use FONTSRC as an attribute. This attribute may be 
> named whatever we decide to name it.
> 
> <FONT 

HTML 5 does lots of things that purists dislike, but I suspect even they 
accept that font *elements* are only there for legacy reasons.  Styling 
should be done with style sheets; hence the choice of list to discuss this.

> FONTSRC="http://WebsiteUsedAsAnExample.Org/FontFolderLocation/UnfamiliarFont.TTF">

There was almost a consensus that deep linking fonts from third parties 
is likely to be least acceptable to both font vendors and those third 
parties.

Incidentally, the HTML5 people hang on on html-public, not on www-html.

-- 
David Woolley
Emails are not formal business letters, whatever businesses may want.
RFC1855 says there should be an address here, but, in a world of spam,
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Received on Saturday, 22 November 2008 00:19:46 UTC