So Much Power, So Few Options

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Chris Coyier on (Updated on )

David Berlow commenting on font rendering abilities in the browser:

…it’s not treated beyond a fourth-grader’s crayoning abilities; no shadows, in-lines, outlines, fill variety, twisting, perspective, set on a bouncing line, or opaque over another object, much less in motion. If the web’s imaging language is going to call the mighty capabilities of digital outlines for display type all the way to the user’s PC, when will it be a worthwhile shift of rendering power? Can we aim a little higher, like for the initial capabilities of Adobe Illustrator 1.0?

It’s funny when you think of it that way. There is so much awesome technology at work already to display a font on a screen, yet we are so limited in what we are able to do once it’s there.

And a poignant (and funny) response from Mark Pilgrim on “real” font foundry fonts and inferior open source fonts:

Let me put it another way. Your Fonts are superior to Our Fonts in every conceivable way, except one:

WE CAN’T FUCKING USE THEM