The Design Center _/_ DT&G Magazine _/_ DTG Reviews At Macworld in January, the Bitstream booth caught me attention with their "WebFont Maker" program. A person was in the aisle handing out brochures that promised "Design real fonts into your web pages!" __ Of course being the skeptical type, I immediately denounced the idea saying it was impossible -- or at least not plausible. The hawker said it works and lead me into the booth to see it in action. It certainly looked like it works. But I was still skeptical. This May I received a package from Bitstream containing two packages of the new WebFont Maker software with a nice note from Dan McDermott, Marketing Communications Manger for Bitstream. Try it, he said. __ I couldn't believe it, so I had to actually select some of the text to see if it was live. Believe it or not, WebFont Maker product from Bitstream does work... amazingly enough it works very well as you'll see in this review, and Joyce Evans' "Bitstream WebFont" article in The Design Center. __ The really awesome thing about WebFont Maker (WFM) is that it finally allows web crafters to design and build pages that look exactly like intended, even using custom or 'non-standard' font sets. It's pretty cool, in fact. For years we've been saying "no you can't have the fonts you want" -- but now we can change our tunes. The concept is simple. Install the software, and open the WebFont Select the font you wish to 'embed' in your web page Select the character set: complete, standard, or custom, etc. Select the specific URL for the font (Prevents others from ripping off your font) Click to make a "PFR", "portable font resource" Now develop your pages using the font by using a link tag to load the PFR, then add code that utilizes MS Explorer WebFont Player support. (True to form, Microsoft chooses not to support this technology, probably planning to buy or steal the technology at some point.) This is the online "HELP" guide included on the WebFont CD-Rom __ Tag your fonts either using a standard 'face' tag, or by inserting the correct face name into your CSS code. It's that simple. __ This is pretty cool stuff. If you visit their gallery web site, and any of the Bitstream pages already using this technology, you'll see some nice things happening in terms of fonts on the web. I actually had to copy and paste some text from the web page into my text editor to validate to myself that in reality these are web fonts, and not gif graphics. __ Try these pages for yourself. They actually give you a taste of fonts on the web: Bitstream Chianti typeface sample, Bitstream Prima Sans typeface sample, or for a laugh, Bitstream Eyeballs typeface sample! __ We'll be experimenting with the technology in the days ahead, and keeping a close eye on upgrades and new developments from Bitstream. __ The WebFonts package includes the Wizard, the FontPlayer (required for MS Explorer), more than 200 Bitstream TT fonts (including the new EURO currency font), complete documentation, help files, tips and tricks. So, if you want to get your own, custom fonts, on web pages and control how people see your pages, then visit Bitstream Web Font Maker for online samples, or to purchase WebFont Maker. Tell'em Fred Showker and DT&G Magazine sent you. Return to: Joyce Evans on FontMaker, DTG News, or back to DT&G Reviews [ The Design Center ] _ [ DT&G Magazine ] _ [ DTG Newsletter ] _ [ DT&G Reviews ] Want to discuss it? Subscribe to The Designers' CAFE Got Questions? Got Comments? Contact us You are visiting DT&G Magazine: http://www.graphic-design.com/DTG-Library.html Writers, Designers, Consultants, Publishers are encouraged to become published in The Design Center Publications! This is a Spam-Free web site. Help support a healthier Spam-free environment! Thank you for visiting the DT&G Magazine wing of the The Design & Publishing Center at http://www.graphic-design.com/DTG/ The Design & Publishing Center is an Affiliate of The Graphic Design Network at Graphic-Design.Net, Amazon Books at Amazon.com, as well as The News-Serve Network at News-Serve.net, The User Group Network at User-groups.net, The User Group Academy at UGAcademy.org, and The Desktop Publishing Jumpstation at DTP-Jumpstation.com ........ Notes: The screen shots herein represent the copyrighted works of their respective owners, and are used here for editorial demonstration purposes. please read and be aware of our Legal Properties & Disclaimers document. Not all areas of the online environment allow special characters such as the registration and trademark marks. This file will alert you to proprietary works that cannot be duplicated or distributed. Copyright 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, by Showker Graphic Arts, The Design & Publishing Center, on behalf of the respective authors and artists. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. &photographic, Photoshop Tips & Tricks, &Type, WebDesign & Review, and Pixelsmith are all trademarks for The Design & Publishing Center. Other products mentioned in these pages are the registered trademarks of their respective owners.