Notes

.wtf

Tal Leming’s article on WebType Fonts is an excellent overview of some of the potentials (and pitfalls) of embedding fonts for the web, culminating in a proposal that honors the work of type designers whilst opening the door to web designers to use well-crafted typography online.

Although Leming is a type designer and type technology specialist (and a former “jack of all trades” at idiosyncratic foundry, House Industries), he takes a balanced and constructive view, proposing a possible solution to the legal minefield of font embedding. Leming states:

I don’t like to predict the future, but here’s what I think could happen … you want to use a font from XYZ foundry for headlines on your site. You go to the foundry’s website, you enter the domain that your font will be used for, you buy a web embedding license for a small fee, you download the web font file and you put it on your site.

His proposed solution (.wtf, WebType Fonts), ties OpenType fonts to specific domains, allowing professional, foundry-crafted typefaces to be tied to registered domains, ensuring type designers are - deservedly - paid for their work. An interesting idea with potential.

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In addition to their role as lecturers in interactive design at the University of Ulster at Belfast, where they have been active in promoting a web standards-based curriculum, Christopher Murphy and Nicklas Persson are practicing designers and digital artists. Their work has featured in a variety of design books and magazines alongside numerous internationally respected designers and they are regular speakers at design conferences and workshops worldwide.

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