Jun 2, 2010

Using Google Font API

I feel that using open source fonts in the Web design provides a consistent experience as they are always available for download on all platforms. Now, courtesy @font-face we can deliver the same consistent experience though online fonts. With the release of Google Font API this can be implemented with just an additional line of code. [Continue]

Jan 31, 2009

Ecofont – A Font With Holes

I would have never thought font with holes would save ink. Kudos to the Spranq team for coming up with the idea and also for not rejecting it without giving it a try. Of course there will be doubts about its readability and suitability for printers, and whether the saving is worth the change. [Continue]

Mar 7, 2008

Good Fixed-Width/Monospaced/Programming Fonts

Programming font is a love-hate topic with programmers. It is as subjective as the amount of study that has been done on it. And there are some excellent programming font list out there. [Continue]

Oct 23, 2007

Aerial, Tymes, Veranda

No, there are no spelling mistakes. Aerial, Tymes and Veranda are true type fonts by Gavin Graham, they just sound similar to the Microsoft’s first set of Web core fonts, which is now discontinued. This font pack is designed for screen and print and as a “drop-in” replacement for Arial and Time New Roman. [Continue]

Oct 15, 2007

Observations From Experiment

I had been trying out things on this blog with respect to fonts. One of my concerns were how do we know which fonts and font-sizes were appropriate for the reader. There are too many factors on the reader’s environment that can affect how the text is rendered. [Continue]

Oct 2, 2007

Open Source Fonts

The core challenge of web design is the variety of environments that the users can have. The combination of browser and the operating system, plugins, resolution – they all make it impossible to design for a single base. The design has to be more inclusive than exclusive. [Continue]

Sep 2, 2007

Smooth Fonts For Opera In Linux

I have been using Opera as a standards-compliant, efficient and cross-browser. In fact it is one of the browsers that uses Qt toolkit, and hence has better performance on KDE, though it never has been my default browser. One big reason is that some fonts are rendered terribly on Linux. [Continue]

Aug 29, 2007

Volatile Changes Here

Some of you who visit the web site might have seen some design changes, a lot of which have been rolled back. I am still continuing the experimentation. I had unset fonts in my stylesheet, however I have realized that it might not work. [Continue]

Sep 6, 2006

Fonts On Linux

Avi Alkalay, Donovan Rebbechi and Hal Burgiss have written a detailed paper on fonts on Linux (via All about Linux). The paper explains the trouble with fonts on Linux and advises using Tahoma and Verdana for desktops.

Aug 23, 2006

Better Typography

Mark Boulton sets five simple steps for better typography. It is a good guide for selection of fonts. I wonder if we will ever have run time fonts for Web, i.e., constructing custom fonts dynamically while delivering on the web.