Re: Re[2]: pixel fonts

[Tiro TypeWorks]
> 
> Glen Rippel wrote:
> 
> >     There is a market for pixel based fonts within memory constrained 
> >     devices, however.....  For collaborative documents the world went with 
> >     scalable type already for products like Envoy and Acrobat. The web 
> >     already makes use of scalable fonts by referencing the FONT-FACE= tag 
> >     like in Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator. I is almost 
> >     impossible to move towards bitmaps again.  
> 
> A move towards bitmaps certainly seems unlikely (although LettError have
> certainly made a good showing of the clever, creative things you can do with
> pixel fonts that you can't do with scaleable outlines -- I suspect there is
> a market for such fonts and associated tools, as they present web and
> multimedia designers with a decidedly playful way of dealing with display
> text). I, however, fully support Erik's criticism of font embedding
> developments to date. As professional type designers, neither Erik nor I are
> keen on seeing our fonts being shot around the world in a variety of
> insecure document formats (of which Acrobat is definitely an example). The
> current FONT-FACE= tag is not a problem, as it relies on the font in
> question being present on the end-user's system. Systems which conspire to
> put that font on the end-user's system so they can view and print a given
> website or electronic document are a problem, and a represent a serious
> threat to type designers' livelihoods.

I'm not so sure that this is such a big threat.  Professional 
publishers and designers will buy legitimate typefaces;  fonts
reconstituted from documents would be likely to have missing characters,
hinting problems and such and thus to be too much hassle to justify
using them.  Also, in most countries, organisations such as FAST can raid 
and audit workplaces to ensure that all the software being used is 
legitimate; there is no reason why this cannot be extended to fonts.
Finally, one of the things one pays for when buying software of any
sort is a relationship with the publisher.  This is less so for fonts,
because they require less maintenance, but is still a factor.

Anyone can theoretically make a second-rate outline font from a 
PostScript file;  but then again, anyone can also scan in a 
printed font and make a knock-off font, which is perfectly legal in
the US as long as they change the name.  And yet professional 
publishers and designers still buy original fonts.

> My own idea for a solution is to give designers and foundries greater
> control over the ways in which their fonts can be used (i.e. control within
> font format technology), and modify existing payment and distribution models
> to reflect that control. Designers who intend their fonts to be used
> primarily for print media applications should be able to disable the font in
> such a way that it cannot be used in electronic documents; they then take
> their chances in the traditional graphic design and typography market.
> Designers who want to make their typefaces available for web design and
> other electronic applications should be subsidised by the software and
> Internet developers whose products are made more valuable by the existence
> of such fonts. Matthew Carter's Verdana is an excellent example of the
> latter: Microsoft paid Matthew to design the typeface and Tom Rickner to
> hint it, then give it away free. Obviously they see this as a good
> investment, as it increases the value of, among other things, their Internet
> Explorer. If software developers want to create tools which make it possible
> to send embedded fonts all over the world, they should be the one's paying
> for font development.

That is an idea; mind you, a corpus of "free" (subsidised) fonts for
online publishing is not always the answer.  What if a site needs to use
a particular font which is not free?

-- 
                                     "Angels take poison
  http;//www.zikzak.net/~acb/         In rotting pavillions
                                      Under shivering stars
              <acb@dev.null.org>      The sickness is gilding." -- Coil

Received on Thursday, 8 August 1996 22:27:08 UTC