Is it a good idea to use embedded fonts?
Another possible way to overcome the 'client machine might not have my preferred font' problem is to 'embed' fonts into web pages. The technology to do this has been in existence since Netscape 4.01 and Internet Explorer 4.
You can - in theory at least - now specify any font you wish; your chosen fonts are downloaded with the rest of the page.
However, this technology has not become popular with web designers, in fact it seems to disappearing with very few sites making use of the greater control it offers web typographers. There are a number of reasons why this seemingly attractive idea has not been adopted:
- Internet Explorer and Netscape use different, incompatible technologies. Internet Explorer uses Embedded OpenType and Netscape uses TrueDoc.
- Embedded fonts don't work in older browsers (pre Internet Explorer 4 and pre Netscape 4.0).
- Embedding fonts into pages adds to download times.
- Security problems have been reported; it may be possible for users to steal fonts.
- There are still unresolved problems related to copyright and licensing of fonts.
Browser support for embedded fonts does not appear to be improving, with no support built into Netscape 6, it looks like Netscape has decided to abandon the technology. Detailed information about using embedded fonts can be found at http://builder.cnet.com/webbuilding/pages/Authoring/Typography/ss01.html.
For now, sticking to fonts that you expect to find on your users' machines, and are optimised for web use, is the best approach.
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