Sunday, September 19, 2010

Finally -- real fonts available for the web

In my other life as a typographer (going on 40 years now) I have long bemoaned the absence of "typography" on the web. Early on it was non-existent. A bit later, madly cumbersome, but possible-- as here in my very old site for Fairfax Press.

Today I was checking out my recent, non-urgent emails, and found one from the Monotype Corporation. (They are a venerable type foundry that did much to influence typography in the 20th Century.) There was a message from them about using their web fonts service. I read it and tried it. And it worked. Because this free facility used fonts which resided on their site, I was experimenting to see if it would slow page-loading significantly; it did not. Consequently, I send you now to the manifesto page of my iPhone Photography work once again, but this time just to see the type face.


It's Bembo--the face I decided upon for my house face decades ago when I was setting up Fairfax Press. However, I couldn't afford it and settled on Deepdene instead. But Bembo was my first love among the book faces, and it remains so. (I note with pleasure that Edward Tufte's books are set in Bembo. Though I just bet I was onto it before he was!)

Of course, if you have a strong interest in pursuing web typography, I suggest you carefully select your face and buy it. A good body face will only cost about $25USD.

1 comment:

  1. Your iPhone photos are cool! I don't have a cell phone but am tempted by all the things they can do--and now this!

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