The state of web typography

In the beginning, web designers only had a handful of typefaces at their disposal to use in their designs. Then Flash and Javascript allowed unlimited fonts but lacked accessibility features. In the past year, it seems we finally have a winning solution: the @font-face method which has support from all major browsers and does so using only HTML and CSS.

Meanwhile, a second conversation is happening amongst those who actually own the fonts – the foundries. Would these emerging technologies ensure that their typefaces could not be easily copied from the web? Unfortunately @font-face is still not widely accepted by most foundries. Some allow you to use a hosted service like TypeKit, or you can venture into the burgeoning movement of open source and commercial-free fonts and enjoy free rein over your web typography.