How to define a substitute font if mine not installed

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timza
Posts: 20
Joined: Fri Dec 19, 2014 6:42 pm

How to define a substitute font if mine not installed

Post by timza »

Is there a way for me to embed into my font the name, or a lists of names in order, of the fonts that a computer should use if my font is not installed? I have read with great interest the web pages that help web designers understand what fonts they can expect to be installed on most mac and pc computers. It would be nice for me to define in my font that if my font is not installed, then the software should use Courier New, then Georgia, Then Times New Roman.

Thanks,

Tim.
Alfred
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Joined: Thu Apr 18, 2013 8:08 am

Re: How to define a substitute font if mine not installed

Post by Alfred »

If you think about it for a moment, Tim, you'll see that it can't be done. The browser would have no way of reading the list of preferred substitutions unless your font was installed on the target machine (in which case, of course, there would be no need for a substitution). A widely accepted way to handle this is to use '@font-face' technology, where the font is uploaded to the server and the web page specifies how that font should be used.
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timza
Posts: 20
Joined: Fri Dec 19, 2014 6:42 pm

Re: How to define a substitute font if mine not installed

Post by timza »

Yes. Of course. I did have to think about it for a moment. The software I am typing in only knows the name of the font to look for on my computer. The font file on my computer can't tell your computer what font to use instead.

If we embedded this list into our font files, then the software would have to save that list in the .doc or .html file. Which, now that we are talking about it, would be neat. It would be great if there was some sort of agreement that all pc, mac, and Linux computers would all have a specific list of fonts available, and then we could define the unified font, the width multiplier, and height multiplier inside our font files, that would then embed into the software, to then be able to show a font that is not installed in a manner that was defined by the font designer. Instead of just some random substitution.

Tim.
MikeW
Posts: 625
Joined: Mon May 20, 2013 2:51 pm

Re: How to define a substitute font if mine not installed

Post by MikeW »

While using a font fall-back is useful on a web page, there is no specification for a font format that permits such fall-back per se.

There is a system called Panose that was hoped to do just this with font files. Unfortunately, it is rather complicated to put in practice and other than some big name foundries on some of their fonts, it is hardly used by font designers. It ought to be, but hardly is.
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