Re: Including WOFF in ACID3

I've always assumed that the inclusion of TTF in the Acid 3 test was 
part of Håkon's effort to push web fonts forward by forcing everybody 
else's hand on the issue. I thought it bogus for what purported to be a 
web standards test to require support for something that was nowhere 
defined as a web standard, but insofar as the result of Håkon's web 
fonts push was the development of WOFF and the standardisation of that 
singular web font formats by the W3C, this aspect of Acid 3 seems so 
much tactical water under the bridge. If I were a browser maker, I'd 
simply ignore this aspect of Acid 3 on the grounds that TTF is not a W3C 
web standard.

If Acid 3 were to be changed at this late stage, I'd recommend removing 
both the TTF test and the SVG font test. Mozilla and Microsoft don't 
look like expending any effort in support of the latter, and as I 
understand it the SVG working group is considering dropping fonts from 
its compliance requirements on the grounds that WOFF makes them 
redundant. Two font formats that are not web standards are two more than 
any test should require.

I'd like to see Acid 4 limit itself to actual W3C web recommendations. 
If the goal of the Web Standards Project is to encourage support and use 
of web standards, then that is what it should require in its tests, no 
more and no less.

JH

Received on Friday, 15 October 2010 05:12:14 UTC