RE: Agenda, action items and suggested WOFF changes

On Friday, May 14, 2010 1:06 AM John Daggett wrote:
> 
> John Hudson wrote:
> 
> > I'm perfectly content if this clarification consists only of a
> > statement such as this:
> >
> >         User Agents MUST NOT check the level of
> >         font embedding permissions set in a font
> >         delivered using WOFF format. In general,
> >         it cannot be assumed that embedding
> >         permissions in the font OS/2 table fsType
> >         field correspond to licensing of fonts for
> >         use on the web. Web authors are therefore
> >         expected to have made adequate efforts to
> >         make sure that the font license
> >         corresponds to the intended use.
> 
> I'm fine with a statement such as this.  I would change the wording of
> the first
> sentence slightly to be more specific and include tool usage:
> 
>           The font embedding permissions set in
>           the font contained in a WOFF file MUST
>           NOT affect load behavior in user agents
>           and MUST NOT affect whether tools
>           produce a WOFF file from an underlying
>           font.  In general, it cannot be assumed
>           that embedding permissions in the font
>           OS/2 table fsType field correspond to
>           licensing of fonts for use on the web.
>           Web authors are therefore expected to
>           have made adequate efforts to make sure
>           that the font license corresponds to the
>           intended use.
> 

I would agree with proposed language, but I do believe it makes perfect sense for tools producing WOFF files to check the embedding permissions and issue a warning (as you suggested in one of your previous emails [1]) if "restricted embedding" is the only level specified. I have rarely seen fonts that have the "restricted embedding" set and, in my opinion, this should not be the case for the fonts licensed for web use (that clearly involves font data exchange between server and clients). I think it would be a benefit to a web author if a tool issues a warning when this condition is encountered. Embedding permissions are not easily visible to an author, and if the settings contradict the condition of the license it would be advisable to ask a font vendor to modify this setting, which is also what the OT/OFF spec says a user should do.

Regards,
Vlad

[1] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-webfonts-wg/2010May/0071.html

Received on Friday, 14 May 2010 13:17:10 UTC