Web Open Font Format Will Change Web Design

This is a sample page created by noted typographer Erik Spiekermann using WOFF versions of FF Meta and FF Meta Serif displayed in Firefox 3.6 beta.

In my opinion the web open font format could be one of the biggest additions to web design in many years. Imagine being able to design for the web with hundreds of new fonts. Mozilla and several type foundries are already onboard. For now we’ll just have to wait and see how many other browsers adopt this wonderful new standard.

Efforts to bring advanced typography to the Web have reached an important milestone. Type designers Tal Leming and Erik van Blokland, who had been working to developing the .webfont format, combined forces with Mozilla’s Jonathan Kew, who had been working independently on a similar format. The result of the collaboration is called Web Open Font Format (WOFF), and it has the backing of a wide array of type designers and type foundries. Mozilla will also include support for it in Firefox 3.6.”WOFF combines the work of Leming and Blokland had done on embedding a variety of useful font metadata with the font resource compression that Kew had developed. The end result is a format that includes optimized compression that reduces the download time needed to load font resources while incorporating information about the font’s origin and licensing. The format doesn’t include any encryption or DRM, so it should be universally accepted by browser vendors‚Äö√Ñ√Æthis should also qualify it for adoption by the W3C.

“From: Ars Technica and EmilyChang

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design typography

12 Responses to “Web Open Font Format Will Change Web Design”

1. maxkiesler says:

   November 8, 2009 at 10:34 pm

   New blog post: Web Open Font Format Will Change Web Design http://bit.ly/2WgEAY

   This comment was originally posted on Twitter
2. KalaMana says:

   November 8, 2009 at 11:42 pm

   Web Open Font Format Will Change Web Design http://bit.ly/2ttXFZ

   This comment was originally posted on Twitter
3. Position1Media says:

   November 8, 2009 at 11:56 pm

   Web Open Font Format Will Change Web Design – Max Kiesler – Designer http://bit.ly/4eluYf

   This comment was originally posted on Twitter
4. zenhysteria says:

   November 9, 2009 at 12:35 am

   RT @maxkiesler: New blog post: Web Open Font Format Will Change Web Design http://bit.ly/2WgEAY

   This comment was originally posted on Twitter
5. Tweets that mention Web Open Font Format Will Change Web Design – Max Kiesler - Designer -- Topsy.com says:

   November 9, 2009 at 12:37 am

   [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Michael Hartmann, zenhysteria. zenhysteria said: RT @maxkiesler: New blog post: Web Open Font Format Will Change Web Design http://bit.ly/2WgEAY [...]
6. bldwebsites says:

   November 9, 2009 at 12:45 am

   Web Open Font Format Will Change Web Design – Max Kiesler – Designer http://bit.ly/2eCRkT

   This comment was originally posted on Twitter
7. uberVU - social comments says:

   November 9, 2009 at 12:48 am

   Social comments and analytics for this post…

   This post was mentioned on Twitter by maxkiesler: New blog post: Web Open Font Format Will Change Web Design http://bit.ly/2WgEAY...
8. designguy411 says:

   November 9, 2009 at 1:01 am

   Web Open Font Format Will Change Web Design – Max Kiesler – Designer: In my opinion the web open font format co.. http://bit.ly/4iqeGO

   This comment was originally posted on Twitter
9. Web Open Font Format Will Change Web Design – Max Kiesler – Designer : Marco Island Web Design says:

   November 9, 2009 at 1:42 am

   [...] Read the rest here: Web Open Font Format Will Change Web Design – Max Kiesler – Designer [...]
10. Torontoweb says:

    November 9, 2009 at 8:54 pm

    I really love to use that. I’ve been waiting so long for this. I can enhance my Website Design because of these fonts. Thanks for sharing this!
11. elcadejo says:

    November 14, 2009 at 8:51 am

    Web design will be changed by open font format: http://bit.ly/vKvsl

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter
12. tilti says:

    November 14, 2009 at 9:28 am

    Good. But I still find it crazy that code is still used… RT@elcadejo:Web design will be changed by open font format: http://bit.ly/vKvsl

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter