Web Font Service

Web fonts: Background and Advantages

Since the earliest days of the World Wide Web, the range of design possibilities has been somewhat limited, especially in regards to the theme of typeface selection. The palette was restrained to the few so-called “web-safe” fonts. These were a group of fonts that could be relied on – independent from the operating system version, or the web browser – since they were installed on almost every computer. They consisted of system fonts, e.g., Arial®, Times New Roman®, Verdana, etc.
A few workarounds were also available, of course. Text could be converted to images, which brought new disadvantages of its own. Websites primarily relied on this tactic for headlines, logos, or other short texts.
With the help of the @font-face rule in the CSS syntax (Cascading Style Sheets), and the adoption of different webfont formats in browsers, it is now possible to display text online in typefaces outside of the “web-safe” group. The new webfont formats include EOT (Embedded OpenType, supported by Internet Explore since version 4), WOFF (the Web Open Font Format, supported in Firefox version 3.6+, Google Chrome version 5+, and Internet Explorer version 9+), SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics, supported by mobile Safari, i.e., in the iPhone and iPad), and Raw TT (TrueType fonts, supported in Firefox version 3.6+, Opera version 10+, Safari version 3.1+, and Google Chrome version 4+).

What benefits do Web fonts bring to you?

From our perspective, these are the most important points:

Greater creative freedom (in comparison with system fonts). Almost as much selection as you are familiar with for printed media. This offers a good method for differentiation. Currently, Linotype and Monotype offer approximately 10,000 typefaces as Web fonts. This number is likely to increase even further. Additionally, we can provide you with webfont versions of bespoke or customized typefaces that we have designed for you.
Consistent Corporate Identity standards (in comparison with system fonts). Your website and your printed materials can now have a unified appearance. This will raise the level of trust that your customers have in your website.
Increased efficiency in content creation (in comparison to graphics). By eliminating the next to convert your text to imagery, content may be produced more quickly. The amount of time that updates take is also reduced. Content can now be media-independent (print and ePaper for different devices like the iPhone, iPad, etc.).
Search engine friendly (in comparison to graphics). SEO (Search Engine Optimization) requires text to be displayed as pure text – not as imagery &ndash as Google or other search engines cannot read images automatically very well. As the number of offerings on the World Wide Web continue to increase, efficient search results will become continually more important. Additionally, searching for text passages inside your website(s) will be easier for your users once certain texts are no longer locked up in graphics.
Scalability (in comparison to graphics). The ability to enlarge text is not just an improvement for visitors with impaired vision. It also simplifies the reading process on mobile devices with small displays, as well as those reading under poorly lit areas. An image may be enlarged as well, but the resulting text will appear too pixelated. In comparison with text, which will just reflow, navigation through an enlarged image is also time-consuming.
Automatic speech capabilities (in comparison to graphics). With real text on a website, operating systems or third-party software may be enabled to read the content allowed, which may be quite helpful for children, or users with visual impairments.
Automatic translation (in comparison to graphics), e.g., via browser plug-ins. Even though most auto-translation tools (still) offer quality that leaves much to be desired, this feature is a help to some users.
Faster loading times (in comparison to graphics). Especially in cases where longer passages of text have been converted to images, lag time can be noticeable. An embedded font must only be loaded once; an advantage over images that are each loaded individually.

Linotype can help you with the selection and implementation of Web fonts:

As one of the leading providers of digital fonts, we offer a library with over 10,000 typefaces from Linotype, Monotype, and ITC that are available as Web fonts. This collection includes classics like Compatil®, DIN Next™, Gill Sans®, ITC Franklin Gothic, Frutiger®, Neue Helvetica®, Optima®, Rotis®, and Univers®. With selections like these, almost every conceivable design solution is available for your website.
Our Web fonts cover more than 40 languages, including those that use other writing systems, like Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Greek, Hebrew and Cyrillic.
Even your corporate fonts or “special fonts” can be converted to webfont formats.
Our webfont service does not place any limits on the number of websites/domains that you have.
As opposed to most other font providers, we cover SVG and Raw TrueType in addition to EOT and WOFF. This guarantees maximal support on the Internet. Naturally, you want as many of your visitors as possible to see your website(s) in the manner in which you designed them.
Additionally, we offer more than just a license for you to use our fonts in different webfont formats. We also deliver the technical infrastructure, with which visitors to your website(s) will see the selected fonts (in the proper format, depending on their browser). This support happens in real time. You need not worry about the technical complexities. Instead, you may continue to focus on creating, designing, and updating your content. We take care of the rest.
For larger fonts (e.g., those for East Asian languages), we provide the actually characters used on the website on the fly via dynamic subsetting. This reduces the amount of data embedded on the site, and the site’s download time.
We protect your fonts from being appropriated from your servers for use on unwanted external websites. This frees you from having to protect your site against this kind of violation.
For companies that, in spite of the advantages of our infrastructure, would still like to host their fonts themselves, we also naturally offer this possibility, too.

Three subscription models providing unlimited creativity in website design, tailored exactly to your needs

We are offering three different webfont subscription services based on the number of monthly hits your website achieves:
If you register for up to 25,000 website hits per month, you will have free access to our webfont service and 3000 fonts will be made available to you: simply register at http://webfonts.fonts.com.
Register for between 25,000 and 250,000 website hits per month, and you will be provided with access to our full range of more than 10,000 Web fonts for an annual payment of only 120 USD. In this case, simply register under “Standard” at http://webfonts.fonts.com. You will find a dropdown menu in which you can enter the number of registered webpage hits: the relevant licence fee payable for the webfont service will also be displayed.
Our “Professional” service is offered to those registering at least 2.5 million website hits per month. Pay only 1200 USD per year, and you will not only have access to our vast range of more than 10,000 Web fonts but will also have the option of downloading up to 50 different fonts per month. This will enable you to design your websites using the tools familiar to you and any graphic application you care to use. You can use these fonts for layout purposes without having to pay an additional licence fee. Simply go to http://webfonts.fonts.com and register.

Design agencies should also ask about our agency program. This program provides access to our complete library of fonts and is free to design agencies. Learn more.

Advice service

Do you want to use only “your” corporate fonts as Web fonts?
Or would you like to use the “Professional” subscription model, but your organisation is unable to accept credit cards in payment for the monthly Web font services?
Or perhaps it is the case that your website actually attracts more than 17.5 million hits per month?
Just contact our advice service for help: you can contact us by telephone on +49 6172 484-418 and by email at sales@linotype.com.
Our friendly personnel are looking forward to hearing from you.

Try out our Web fonts free of charge – at webfontspreview.com

Why not find out what your website would look like with the latest and best Web fonts available?
You can try out a wide selection of our webfont range completely free of charge!
Simply go to our “Webfont Previewer” at http://www.webfontspreview.com and enter your URL.