The Free Font Controversy

A number of articles have been published recently on the controversial topic of free fonts. While FontsLive is strictly a commercial font service, we do believe there is a place for free fonts, but would like to openly discuss the potential issues when downloading and using them.

Hot Metal Typeface - Photo by Dana

For starters, it is important to understand that typefaces are developed by people, which is often overlooked. The time and labor that goes in to creating a typeface is substantial, which is why font vendors (like us) need to generate revenue to make type design a sustainable process. Free fonts, on the other hand, should be used with precaution. Here are a few reasons why:

• Free font licenses vary substantially, and it's important to pay close attention to the End User License Agreement (EULA). How a font can be used, whether for personal or commercial use, is just one of the specifications listed within a font EULA. Unfortunately, these agreements are often long, confusing and tedious to read.
• More often than not, the quality of free fonts is lacking. While commercial font vendors can afford to create a highly-polished font for sale, this is usually not the case with a free font.
• Incomplete character set - the vast majority of free fonts are missing characters and do not have complete codepage or Unicode range sets. 
• Oftentimes free fonts only include limited weights and styles, limiting typographic creativity.
• Unclear origins - some free fonts appear to be suspiciously similar to commercial fonts. Because the original designer is not identified the true origin of how the font was created is uncertain (is it potentially a copyright infringement?).
• Free fonts are rapidly dispersed and often fall subject to overuse. While it is more important how you use a font than who is using it, it can be difficult to create something unique while incorporating free fonts.
• Because most free fonts are taken from a gallery and out of context, the designer usually ends up designing around the font and overlooking the original intent behind the font. Each font available on FontsLive is accompanied by a brief summary providing historical background as well as the font's intended uses.

Fonts can be a complex subject, but we're here to help. If you have questions or comments, let us know directly or in the comments below. If you're interested in reading more about free fonts, here are some additional resources:

• The Problem with Free Fonts
• With Beautiful Type Comes Great Responsibility
• An Introduction to Free Fonts
• Free Fonts: Free is Not Always Free

FontsLive Gets a Face Lift

In case you missed it, we made a few changes to FontsLive.com. In addition to a adjusting the look, it should now be easier than ever to navigate the site, find Web Fonts and use our service. If you have any comments or suggestions on the new look and layout, please contact us or post a comment.

WebFont Loader option now available for FontsLive web font service

We are pleased to announce that Ascender has enhanced its web font service available on FontsLive.com to offer advanced features to its customers for controlling how web fonts are loaded into web pages.

Starting today, Ascender’s customers at FontsLive can use the WebFont Loader, a JavaScript library co-developed by Google and Typekit that provides a variety of options for web developers to control the web font loading experience. This allows developers to establish a more consistent occurrence across browsers and tap additional features related to the process of downloading and displaying fonts on a web page.

Ascender's FontsLive service offers hundreds of premium quality fonts from leading type designers and foundries for license as web fonts (and also as downloads for designers to use on their workstations). FontsLive makes it simple and fast for web designers and developers to implement web fonts by adding a single line of code to web pages.

The WebFont Loader JavaScript library is being made available as an optional feature for developers to access via their FontsLive account.

“The WebFont Loader provides more control over how web fonts are downloaded and displayed on web pages” said Tomas Kirda, Chief Technology Officer with DevBridge, Ascender’s web development partner. “The Ascender module for the WebFont Loader will be a welcome addition for our more advanced customers who are comfortable with JavaScript and want more powerful tools with their hosted or self-hosted web font accounts” he added.

FontsLive makes it easy for customers to implement web fonts with a single line of code that does not require JavaScript. Here is an example of the code a FontsLive customer would add to their web pages to access their web fonts:

Instead of using the above CSS link, a FontsLive customer can access the Ascender module with the WebFont Loader JavaScript Library. Here is an example sample code that would be used:

As an alternative, FontsLive customers already using Google's AJAX APIs would call the WebFont Loader as follows:

The controls for accessing the WebFonts Loader are available to FontsLive customer in their account management area (Websites > ProjectName > Resource Link > 'view demo'). The JavaScript code is dynamically generated based on the web fonts selected for a particular website project in a user's account.

FontsLive offers a free 30 day trial for customers to see how powerful web fonts are as a way to enhance the typography of web sites. Users can experiment with the standard FontsLive code, or accessing the WebFont Loader. For more information visit http://www.FontsLive.com

TNW.com praises the quality of FontsLive

FontsLive was recently featured on The Next Web, a popular network of blogs devoted to technology news, reviews and culture. In his review, Brad McCarty says this about the service:

"What sets FontsLive apart is its pedigree, and of course the fact that the site touts its ability to have custom fonts on mobile devices such as the iPhone and iPad, all sans JavaScript. Beyond that, FontsLive has made some amazing efforts to increase font readability."

We're proud to be offering some of the highest quality, hand crafted web fonts available. You can check out our expanding font catalog or read the full article on TNW.