Better looking fonts

[ad#content2]Browsers can only display fonts which are installed on a user’s machine. To make your page design consistent across different computers, you’re limited to using only a few fonts which are installed on most computers. As a result, the typography of your website can be difficult to get right.

The following fonts are deemed web safe

  • Arial
  • Courier New
  • Georgia
  • Times New Roman
  • Verdana
  • Trebuchet MS
  • Lucida Sans

There are a number of solutions, one of which I stumbled upon yesterday. It’s called sIFR, and it allows you to embed any TrueType font that you want onto a web page. However, it has its own limitations.

It uses a combination of CSS, JavaScript, and Flash. Therefore, if a user has JavaScript turned off, or hasn’t got the Flash plugin installed, this method won’t work. But, if either of those conditions are met, the sIFR method will revert to using CSS, so the user won’t know the page is being displayed incorrectly.

The method requires the use of .swf files. If you’ve got Adobe Flash CS3, you’re sorted. If not – don’t worry – there are free tools. Both sIFR Font Embedder (Windows users) and OpensIRF for (Mac) will help you create the necessary files.

You can download the latest sIRF version here, and learn all you need to about it here.

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