Articulated

Web type, layout and testing

A List Apart’s most recent issue is about web type. There is a lot of chatter on this topic. Some of it has to do with the launch of Typekit, a web service that allows licensing of fonts for use on the web. In addition to Typekit, ALA also mentions Typotheque and Kernest. I’ve been using a few good free fonts from FontSquirrel for my websites along with my own font. Clearly, web fonts are going to explode in 2010. Along with mobile websites, this is clearly the next leap web designers have to take.

The articles also had numerous links to online resources for web designers. I liked:

• Web Font Specimen a tool for testing the display of fonts that are applied to a web page using @font-face
• Litmus a fee-based service for browser testing. This is a much more user-friendly and reliable version of what Browsershots does for free.
• 960.gs is a CSS resources for developing a website using the very popular 960px grid system. Grid systems are a good idea in general. This is just one of many possible systems.

Types of types

I have two type related tidbits to share this morning as a result of my application to join the Typophile group on LinkedIn. First is this interesting website from New Zeland called 100Types. I like the idea of a website organized like a metal type case. The other is something a colleague forwarded to me from the LifeHacker website, which is an awesome blog. One of the posts there lists links to typography tools and free font resources online. I haven’t had a chance to look at them yet, but it looks interesting. I noted that FontStruct, on of my favorites, is on that page.

Pair

Was just wondering with my friend Benni about pairing fonts. He’s having a little difficulty finding a good mate for ITC Lubilan. I have a similar problem with my own personal font (probably related to the fact that I designed it). On a whim, I Googled “pairing fonts” and I came up with this link to a blog that is obviously written by someone who loves typefaces. In one of his posts from 2 years ago, he gushes about the Hoefler & Frere-Jones website. I can sympathize.