Ay, all. I've just started dabbling in template-building, and I was wondering if any of the more seasoned veterans on the site could give some pointers on font use, or examples of fonts that play well with most browsers. I'm particularly interested in script/cursive and calligraphic fonts, but anything is welcome for future reference.
Font use on the web is very tricksy. The only fonts that will definitely display are those that are actually installed on the visitors device; this means you are basically out of luck when it comes to script or cursive fonts, as it is rare that these are included in factory-installed fonts, and most web users never expand their collection.
When you add mobile devices, which may only have 3 or 4 installed fonts, you're in trouble.
In short, there's no guaranteeing any specific font will ever be available in a viewer's collection.
Which brings us on to using web font files, i.e. font files that aren't on the user's computer, just loaded into their browser for temporary display. It's not a 100% guarantee either, as some people will have disabled this capability, but it works in most cases just fine.
The most popular, least legally bothersome source of these is Google Fonts. There is no officially supported way to take advantage of Google Fonts in Character templates at present (by contrast, Epic Groups have a lot of google fonts available to them when building templates.)
Some people are currently using @import or @font-face to load outside font sources (especially those provided via Google Fonts) onto their character pages. Although it technically works atm, I disrecommend building anything new using this technique, as it is currently scheduled to be disabled here in February. It's a security hole I need to close (despite the beautiful results non-malicious folks can get with it). At that point I'll be adding the Google Fonts selector that can be used in Epic Group creation, so some of that functionality will be made up for and even made easier to deal with.
When you add mobile devices, which may only have 3 or 4 installed fonts, you're in trouble.
In short, there's no guaranteeing any specific font will ever be available in a viewer's collection.
Which brings us on to using web font files, i.e. font files that aren't on the user's computer, just loaded into their browser for temporary display. It's not a 100% guarantee either, as some people will have disabled this capability, but it works in most cases just fine.
The most popular, least legally bothersome source of these is Google Fonts. There is no officially supported way to take advantage of Google Fonts in Character templates at present (by contrast, Epic Groups have a lot of google fonts available to them when building templates.)
Some people are currently using @import or @font-face to load outside font sources (especially those provided via Google Fonts) onto their character pages. Although it technically works atm, I disrecommend building anything new using this technique, as it is currently scheduled to be disabled here in February. It's a security hole I need to close (despite the beautiful results non-malicious folks can get with it). At that point I'll be adding the Google Fonts selector that can be used in Epic Group creation, so some of that functionality will be made up for and even made easier to deal with.
Google fonts!
Hooke wrote:
Ay, all. I've just started dabbling in template-building, and I was wondering if any of the more seasoned veterans on the site could give some pointers on font use, or examples of fonts that play well with most browsers. I'm particularly interested in script/cursive and calligraphic fonts, but anything is welcome for future reference.
There are actually MANY fonts that come along standard with your OS, more than are simply considered "web fonts". If someone's computer has the font on it, it will show it as it should be. For those who do not have the font, you can set up a couple alternative options to have more unique fonts than you might find "standard" the best way to see what might be common/out there is to look at the lists of fonts that come with windows/look at your standard fonts. Play around, you'll get some good results!
For general fonts to use in DESIGN elements (as images), message me privately if you ever need it- I'm always happy to help brainstorm.
For everyone looking for the discussion of how Google fonts are currently selected in custom templates, and how that will change in the near future, its new location is here, and titled Changes to Google Font Usage in Templates. I split it off because it was a little off-topic from the OP.
And now back to your original question in this thread!
And now back to your original question in this thread!
Goodness, thank you all for your replies. I'll likely be sticking to web-safe fonts, for the time being - at least until I've gotten a better handle on what I'm doing.
Many thanks, bb! I may have to pop you a message or two, to pick your brain on the subject. I've seen a good deal of your work, and your eye for design is simply stunning.
Contingency wrote:
For general fonts to use in DESIGN elements (as images), message me privately if you ever need it- I'm always happy to help brainstorm.
Many thanks, bb! I may have to pop you a message or two, to pick your brain on the subject. I've seen a good deal of your work, and your eye for design is simply stunning.
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