Downloadable fonts and CSS
One of the main gripes of designers and users alike about the Web is its inherent dependence on the few, largely mediocre (e.g. Trebuchet, Times New Roman, Courier New) or poor (Arial, Comic Sans, Verdana etc.) fonts that Microsoft commissioned or designed more than a decade ago. This year CSS turns ten and along with it comes yet another proposal on the Web’s Typographic liberation. Or sort of. This time it might work, although scores of technical and legal questions remain. A List Apart has the details.
Well even if the technical issues are overcome, the legal problems are pretty compeling, aren’t they?
Absolutely! The legal aspects do not have a comprehensive solution and have always been the main issue with downloadable fonts.
However, the font market has long been undergoing a slow transformation. While there are relatively few good free fonts compared to the vast libraries of the main commercial font houses, there is an increasing effort to create a body of high quality, free fonts, both independently and in conjunction with the open source movement; legal licences such as the Open Font Licence among others help move in this direction, as does the support of the linux community and their corporate backers. In any case, the mere technical capability will hopefully mean a richer (marginally perhaps) web experience and liberate the design process. It may also serve as an additional incentive for the creation of free fonts.