Why Typekit will change everything
Well, perhaps not quite everything. Today Jeffrey Veen let the cat out of the proverbial. He announced Typekit.
To use Jeffrey's own words:
Every major browser is about to support the ability to link to a font. This is a massive upgrade for the web. But there’s a problem. While it’s technically quite easy to link to fonts, it’s legally more nuanced. Almost all fonts are protected by copyright — even those available for free — and very few of them allow for linking via CSS or redistribution on the web.
That’s where Typekit comes in. We’ve been working with foundries to develop a consistent web-only font linking license. We’ve built a technology platform that lets us to host both free and commercial fonts in a way that is incredibly fast, smoothes out differences in how browsers handle type, and offers the level of protection that type designers need without resorting to annoying and ineffective DRM.
I'm sorry. Did I just read that right?
We’ve been working with foundries to develop a consistent web-only font linking license. We’ve built a technology platform that lets us to host both free and commercial fonts in a way that is incredibly fast, smoothes out differences in how browsers handle type, and offers the level of protection that type designers need without resorting to annoying and ineffective DRM.?
Typekit is an opportunity to change the look of the web in a way that no other combination of related technologies has done before. Working with type designers and foundries, building a delivery platform and handling licensing issues through a simple payment process.
Typekit will revolutionize the way that we work with, and purchase typefaces in the same way that iTunes revolutionized the way we buy and listen to music and the App Store opened the doors to millions of iPhone/iPod customers for their developer community.
But Typekit will not only change the way that web designers work with type, it will spark renewed interest among typeface designers in making specific typefaces that work well on screen, something Mark Boulton has been suggesting for a while. This can only be good news for typeface designers, type aficionados and for web consumers.
Actually I got it right the first time, Typekit will change everything.