For nearly 15 years, web designers had two frustrating choices when it came to type on the web: use one of the few “web safe” fonts preinstalled on major operating systems, or substitute text with images and Flash/JavaScript® hacks. Not anymore. Recent developments in web standards (using the @font-face CSS declaration) and font formats make it possible to render HTML text in typefaces other than the same old default fonts. Today, FSI FontShop® International is leading the charge to offer fonts designed specifically for web use. More than 30 of the most successful FontFont families are now available as Web FontFonts®, including FF DIN®, FF Meta®, FF Dax®, and FF Kievit®.

This long-awaited step enables a more seamless and effective transition from print design to the web. An organization whose identity uses FF DIN, for example, can now deliver that experience on the web, using true HTML text.

Any web developer will tell you that HTML text is far more flexible and easier to update than an image. Using Web FontFonts gives you type that is both customized and dynamic.

Search engines don’t like images nearly as much as text. Now all the branded typography on a page can be found and indexed. Text is also more accessible to users with disabilities.

Because HTML text can be resized, copied, and edited by website visitors, you can create stylized interfaces, forms, and applications without relying on Flash or other hacks.

Why Web FontFonts?

• They look great. Great care was taken to optimize Web FontFonts for display on nearly any screen, whether that screen is connected to a Mac or driven by Windows with ClearType switched on.
• They are easy to buy. Buying a Web FontFont is as easy as licensing a conventional desktop font. There is no subscription to sign up for and you pay only for the font you need. Pricing is determined not by domain or bandwidth, but by the average monthly pageviews for all websites in the licensed organization.
• They work on most major browsers. Web FontFonts are delivered in EOT Lite and WOFF, the two formats supported by the most commonly used browsers: Internet Explorer® and Firefox®, covering more than 90% of all web visitors. We expect other browsers to join in implementing WOFF soon. A free Typekit hosting option extends compatibility to Safari® and Chrome® users.
• No DRM. Because webfonts are essentially shared with everyone who visits a webpage that uses them, some font makers may want to use some sort of DRM to prevent unauthorized use. Not us. Web FontFonts come in formats that work only on websites (not in any desktop app), and do so without crippleware or user interruptions.
• They speak more languages. The FontFont library has always offered top class language support, extending many of the most popular families to include character sets like Central European, Cyrillic, and Greek. Web FontFonts are no exception. The Pro versions contain the same language support as their desktop companions.

Learn more.

Get all the details about Web FontFonts and how they work »
Download the Web FontFont User Guide (PDF) »

Update: Now that the fonts have been available for a few weeks and designers have had a chance to integrate them in their websites, we’ve collected a few of the best real-world examples of Web FontFonts in use.

FF Clifford Web & FF Clifford Web Pro

FF Trixie Web & FF Trixie Web Pro

FF Market Web

FF Speak Web

FF Brokenscript Web

More than 30 Web FontFont families are available.

See them all »

More than 30 of the most successful FontFont families are now available as Web FontFonts®. This article will walk you through everything you need to know about this new web-optimized format on FontShop.com.

Why Use Web Fonts?

Most fonts are designed to be used in desktop applications for design that will be printed or output as an image file or PDF. Web fonts are an entirely new category of fonts optimized for use on web pages using the @font-face rule. This fairly new addition to CSS allows fonts to be linked in web pages and downloaded by browsers so that anyone who visits the page can view the fonts declared by the page’s designer. This means your website can display indexable, editable, resizable, dynamic HTML text in a font other than the handful of “web safe” options we’ve had to rely on for years. Read more about the benefits of web fonts in our newsletter.

How Are Web Fonts Different from Desktop Fonts?

Web Fonts are indicated by the “Web” icon throughout FontShop.com. They are designed to work exclusively on web pages and cannot be installed on a desktop OS for use in applications like Word®, Photoshop®, or QuarkXpress®. Most web fonts are also optimized to download and display quickly because they include only the glyphs recognized by web browsers. That said, many Web FontFonts come in Pro versions with support for Eastern European, Greek, and/or Cyrillic character sets. Web FontFonts are also optimized for screen display and look especially crisp and clean on Mac OS X and Windows versions with ClearType enabled.

Mileage may vary … but not much. These examples of FF Meta Web as rendered by Internet Explorer on Windows, Firefox on Windows, and Firefox on Mac OS X show how the same font can look slightly different in each environment. Despite these unavoidable inconsistencies, Web FontFonts are designed to look their best on all modern systems.

How Are Web FontFonts Sold?

All Web FontFonts are available as full families, Basic Sets (Regular, Italic, Bold, Bold Italic), and individual styles. While standard desktop fonts are licensed by the number of users or workstations using the fonts, Web FontFonts are licensed by the average pageviews per month of all the domains within the licensing organization. There are three simple license levels: up to 500,000; up to 5 million; and up to 50 million pageviews per month.

Contact us for enterprise licensing beyond this amount.

What Do I Get in My Web FontFont Download?

Web FontFonts come in two DRM-free formats: EOT Lite, supported by Internet Explorer®, and WOFF, supported by Firefox®. We expect WOFF to be supported by the other browsers soon, but currently IE and Firefox cover over 90% of all web visitors. Both formats are delivered with every Web FontFont purchase and can be used without relying on any third-party service. The Web FontFont downloads also come with a User Guide [201 PDF] full of helpful information for web developers, system administrators, and website visitors. HTML test pages for each of the downloaded fonts are also included.

How Do I Use Web FontFonts?

Because Web FontFonts work using basic CSS, using them is pretty straightforward. If you are even vaguely familiar with CSS you can make Web FontFonts work on your website. The simple instructions in the Web FontFont User Guide [201K PDF] make it easy.

Optionally, you can skip self-hosting and coding altogether and host the Web FontFonts you purchased with a free Typekit account.

We’ll continue to post more information and tips about Web FontFonts in the coming weeks. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to contact us. In the meantime, the fonts are ready to roll! Go have a look.