typography
typeface.js is promising
I read today about typeface.js and it’s exactly the lightweight replacement that sifr could use. If you are not familiar with sifr, in a nutshell: use whatever font you want, regardless of whether it is installed on your visitors’ computers or not.
Of course, these days, Flash is more popular than ever but if you are a purist, typeface allows you to do without Flash, using the Canvas element. And, even better, since it’s not Flash, it works on iPhone.
If you are looking for a pixel-perfect solution, however, it is not quite ready yet. Not far, but not quite:
- Text replacement does not allow the user to select text in either FireFox or Safari
- font-stretch support is not rendered correctly in Opera
Now, these weaknesses are, I am sure, only temporary and they are the price to pay for being able to specify your text’s rendering using pure CSS (font-stretch: normal)
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OpensIFRr now for Windows
A couple months ago, I made a post about my new toy: OpensIFRr, which lets you easily create awesome Flash files that you can use to render just about any font in your web pages.
I was pleased with the feedback it got but of course a lot of readers asked about the Windows version.
Well, it’s here now! In the process I’ve learned a thing or two about Nullsoft’s Scripting Engine 
Hope you like it and, once again, a tip of the hat to Mike Davidson & al.
Get it now, courtesy of SourceForge
ps: It appears that the version of swfmill that is currently working under OpensIFRr’s hood does not always like spaces; therefore if the program seems stuck converting a font file, try again with less characters - which is good practice anyway!
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Create your own sIFR Flash File(s)
I did not invent anything.
Mike Davidson and his gang did. I even borrowed this logo from his blog.
I just found -on the web, where else?- a fairly easy method to create sIFR Flash Files without the need for Adobe Flash Studio itself. Thus, here it is: a free, dead-simple tool to help you convert as many font files as you need painlessly.
Simple? Very. Select a TrueType Font File, select which glyphs you wish to convert or [x] All if you want a big fat .swf file, click on ‘Convert’, pick a destination directory and you’re set.
If you need more information on sIFR and why it’s the greatest thing in web design since sliced images, take a look at Mike’s blurb.
Then come back and download OpensIFRr, because you will want to play with this nice concept.
Let me show you an example of a short sIFR-enabled page:
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