[css-text ] font-size-adjust (was: @font-face and slow downloading)

As the use of @font-face, WOFF and web served typography increases, we 
can expect typographic design of web content to become more 
sophisticated, and while such design, incorporating the needs of mobile 
devices, will need to be even more dynamic than web publishing in the 
desktop browser period has been, I also anticipate a lot more design 
that works from-the-text-up, taking the typography as the core design 
element in a way that web served fonts makes possible.

The recent discussion about fallback font mechanisms during slow 
@font-face downloading raises again the important matter of matching the 
aspect value of fonts, which will be particularly important in 
text-centric designs. With that in mind, I'd like to get some idea of 
where various browser makers are with regard to support of the 
font-size-adjust property.[1]

This property does not resolve the issues raised in the slow downloading 
discussion regarding disruption of reading and page interaction when the 
font changes from fallback to downloaded -- font-size-adjust matches the 
aspect value of fonts, not the actual font metrics, so interline spacing 
may vary if defined relative to font vertical metrics, and text wrapping 
will reflow based on different glyph widths and kerning -- but in terms 
of preserving both the overall impact of macro-typographic design and 
the readability of text (by ensuring that fallback fonts do not appear 
at a smaller visual aspect than the preferred font) this property is 
very valuable.

Do any browsers support font-size-adjust yet? Can any browser makers 
confirm plans for such support?

JH


1. http://dev.w3.org/csswg/css3-fonts/#propdef-font-size-adjust

Received on Friday, 22 October 2010 19:28:44 UTC