Here's a little laugh to get your weekend started. Who knew fonts could be so funny?


Thanks to Ryan McCullah for sending the link.

Over at InfoQ, they are debating whether it's worth while to support Internet Explorer 6 anymore. The article details several online serivices, vendors, and developmental frameworks that are pulling support, arguing that the browser that once made up 95% of the market share is no longer an online player now that Internet Explorer is on the scene.

On the one hand, deciding not to support IE6 and embracing Web standards can make it easier to create Web sites, expand your design possibilities, and generally allow for a better experience. On the down side, if you do go with a Web standards compliant site and ignore IE6, these sites do not tend to degrade gracefully and many users on the older browser can get frustrated. Any thoughts about what we should do?

At the recent Voices that Matter conference, I had the privilege of having dinner with Bill Cullifer, the Executive Director of WOW (World Organization of Webmasters). I hadn't check in with that group in a while (they've been around since 1996), so I was excited to hear about a lot of the great stuff the are doing to help educate Web professionals, including conferences, and "Iron Chef" student competition, and certification. Bill invited me to be interviewed for the WOW Technology Minute, and we talked about Web Typography.

Check it out on the WOW Technology Minute Web site.

The Web is always changing and so is Web Design. Whether you just got out of design school or have been pushing pixels for decades, there's always something new to learn.

Every other Thursday, AOL presents speakers who will help you stay on the cutting edge of your profession, hone your skills, understand industry best practices and keep you ahead of the competition. We'll meet 12PM-1:30PM on alternating Thursdays in Dulles and New York to hear about new and advanced topics in Web design.

As a special bonus, the first session comes with lunch provided free! Expand your knowledge of Web Typography and fill your stomach! Who could pass that up?

If you plan to attend, please RSVP Jason Cranford Teague (j.cranfordteague@corp.aol.com) at least 24 hours in advance of the meet-up.

Click "Read More" for session dates and descriptions.

Last week at the Voices That Matter Conference, I was privaleged to attend a great presentation on how to give great presentations. Garr Reynolds, the author of Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery, wowed the crowd by creating a compelling and informative presentation using Power Point (actually he was using Keynote, but Power-Point has become the "Band-Aid" of slide software). Unlike other information design experts (ie. Edward Tufte), Garr has a lot of hope for Power-point presentations, but with a few helpful suggestions (paraphrased here):

This week I'll be at the Voices That matter Conference in Nashville, TN speaking on the topic of Web typography, but I wanted to give everybody at AOL a little preview of the center-piece of my presentation: Web Safe Fonts.

Web typography is pretty much synonymous with limitations. Limited controls, limited styles, but, most importantly, limited font-family choices. The first of these limitations will require changes in the browsers, however, there are a surprisingly large number of fonts to choose from, but only if you are willing to work with a more fluid typography. Most designers are familiar with the 11 "Core Web Fonts" that are industry standards. Primarily, we will use Arial (or Helvetica), Times New Roman (or just Times), and Georgia has become popular in the last few years. You will occasionally see Verdana and Trebuchet MS tried, but these are not the most elegant looking of fonts. We use these fonts because we know that they are pre-installed on most computers. Yet most computers will also have many other fonts pre-installed on them, either by the operating system or by specific applications.

I have created a list of "Web Safe Fonts" showing fonts pre-installed on Windows and Mac as well as fonts installed by iLife on the Mac (which is standard on all Macs) and Microsoft Office for both Mac and PC. Although not all of these fonts will be of general use, it does balloon the list of reliable fonts from 11 to around 200. To make selection easier, I have also indicated which OS the font is pre-installed for, ranked each font on a scale from 1 to 5 (with 1 for fonts almost certain to be installed and 5 for fonts unlikely to be installed), and the source of the font.

Let me know what you think of the list, and if you spot any fonts that should be or should not be in it. The site is in "Beta" while I work on vetting the list and adding functionality (like the ability to sort the list), so any constructive criticism would be most appreciated.

View the Web Safe Fonts >>

I am sooooo tired of my mouse. Move-click-move-click-move-click-move-click-click-move. We've been using mice for almost 25 years now while movies like Minority Report have shown us a glimpse of a future where all you have to do is wave your hands around a bit to get the job done (OK, you also have to live with Tom Cruze in a distopian future (OK, some might argue that we already are living with Tom Cruze in a distopian future)). Yes, there are some extremely big expensive systems thate promise to do some cool things, but we need something cheap and portable.

The portfolio for Publicis & Hal Riney are taking us into the future with a Flash site that allows you to navigate with hand gestures using your Web cam. Just move your hand over certain "hot spots" in front of your computer (shown in a handy mini-window on the bottom right of the screen) and you can move around their portfolio to see their ideas, news, and examples of their work. It may not be replacing your mouse anytime soon, but it's still pretty cool.

I'm going to be setting the new standards for typography on the Web, and I want your help.

A few weeks back, while at the W3C CSS Work Group Face-To-Face meeting in San Diego, I volunteered, to be the advocate for several of the CSS 3 Modules. A while back, the Work Group decided that, rather than trying to release one big document, they would release the CSS 3 specification in smaller modular chunks. As an advocate for parts of the overall CSS 3 specifications, I work to push my chosen modules through from a working draft to a full blown recommendation. It's kind of like taking a bill through the US Congress, only with more transparency. I decided to take on the four issues which I believe will have the most effect on the work we do here at AOL: CSS Basic UI, CSS Hyperlink Presentation, CSS Fonts, and CSS Web Fonts. It's a lot of work, so I'll be concentrating on the Font Modules first.

Next June (sometime between June 10th and June 13th to be more precise) I will be presenting a session on Web Typography at the Voices the Matter Conference to be held in Nashville, TN. The conference, run by the book publisher New Riders, brings together some of their top authors for a four day lovefest of everything Web design. This is my first time at the conference (of course, this is only the second VTM conference) but it looks pretty exciting, with some authors I know well and others I'm looking forward to meeting.

If you want to attend, you can register before May 2nd and save $200 and (just because I'm a sweet guy) you can use my special promo code at ANY time to save another $200. Use the priority code WDDSPKR during registration to save $200 on any of the packages.

I hope to see you there.

Are you tired of the limited fonts at your disposal as a Web designer? I know I am. But, that changed yesterday when Apple released Safari 3.1 which includes the ability to download common Open Type and True Type fonts to be used in your Web designs without having to install them on the users computer first. Make no mistake, this is the beginning of a revolution in Web design. And I mean an actual revolution-not like the way the word "revolution" is used in TV commercials to make you think you are doing something new when you actually are doing the exact same thing only paying for it-since Apple is openly revolting against the status-quo established by the dominant player in the browser market.

I saw this demoed at the W3C conference last fall, so I wasn't too surprised that Apple could do it, but I am surprised that they are willing to throw down the glove to Microsoft who is opposed to allowing fonts to be used without a strict DRM system in place to not only prevent fonts from being misused either in sites they are not licensed for or stolen by the end user.

CSS has included all of the syntax needed to download fonts for years, the only thing holding typography on the Web back was that the browser makers could not agree on a common font file format to support. Microsoft recently offered to open their proprietary .eot format, but many considered it too little too late. With Safari 3.1, you can now add any True Type (.ttf) or OpenType (.otf) fonts that you have at your disposal.