Re: Downloadable fonts and image replacement

Håkon Wium Lie schreef:
> Yes. Truetype files, as you probably know, carry information about how
> the font can be "embedded" into pages. There are four levels:
>
> 1. None - This level of embedding does not allow for embedding.
> Another font is substituted for the selected font.
>
> 2. Preview & Print - This level of embedding allows the selected font to
> be seen on the screen and printed from the document in which the font
> was embedded.  
>
> 3. Editable - At this level, the selected font can be seen on screen,
> printed, and edited (but only in the host document).  
>
> 4. Installable - This level includes attributes of all previous levels.
> The selected fonts can be installed on the computer and used in other
> documents and applications. 
>
>
> To make sure we're not upsetting anyone, only level 4 fonts should be
> accepted by UAs. Also, even if level 4 fonts are "installable", the UA
> should not install them for other applications to use -- the font should
> be treated like a cached resource.

Would that not cause the opposite effect? Because browsers would only 
accept fonts with an ‘installable’ setting, font vendors might not be 
willing to set such a high level for a publicly available font even 
though it’s only used on the client’s own website (which would really be 
level 3, while level 4 would be the equivalent to explicitly offering it 
for download to any user). Or at the least would they not charge 
extraordinary amounts for it? Seems to me like this could actually 
hinder commercial adoption of the functionality.

I’d say at the least accept level 3.

Or maybe ignore the information altogether. It’s a browser policy issue 
I think, not something the spec should dictate. The field is totally 
bogus anyway, as for restricted use it doesn’t provide information about 
where it can be used, and the field can easily be changed as well. Also, 
it may always be set to 4 in practice because graphic designers would 
likely need to install it on their workstations to use it.


~Grauw

-- 
Ushiko-san! Kimi wa doushite, Ushiko-san!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Laurens Holst, student, university of Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Website: www.grauw.nl. Backbase employee; www.backbase.com.