RE: @font-face and slow downloading

> -----Original Message-----
> From: www-style-request@w3.org 
> [mailto:www-style-request@w3.org] On Behalf Of David Singer
> Sent: Wednesday, October 20, 2010 5:49 PM
> To: www-style list
> Subject: Re: @font-face and slow downloading
> 
> I think that the choice of whether to show (a) nothing (b) a 
> substitute font, when the correct one is not (yet) available 
> is very much a user and UA question.  I don't think timeouts 
> or author indications have much place, or will be much help.  
> How do they know whether I am an impatient SOB who wants 
> something readable soon, or a precision SOB who only wants 
> things to look right?
> 
> However, I am struggling with the question of whether a 
> temporary substitute font is different from a fallback font.  
> Maybe it isn't -- after all, if the UA picks the temporary 
> subset 'for the time being' and actual download takes longer 
> than the user keeps the page open, it's not material that it 
> wasn't a permanent fallback.
> 
> Maybe we should insist on a fallback list including at least 
> one 'normal' font, for downloadable faces, and say that the 
> UA 'may' show a fallback before the downloaded font is 
> available, but if it does, must re-render using the 
> downloaded font when it becomes available?
> 
But it is an issue if I go to click something and the link is now as I
click going to some completely different page because the normal font
and the suddenly-available downloaded font have different metrics.

Hope this helps,
Charles Belov
SFMTA Webmaster

Received on Thursday, 21 October 2010 02:22:04 UTC