Re: [Ayatana] Ubuntu Font as default for web site

["Scott E. Armitage" <launchpad@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

If you prefer, straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak:
http://www.w3.org/TR/css3-fonts/#font-family-the-font-family-property
specifically the paragraph on generic font families:

    All five generic font families are defined to exist in all CSS
implementations
    (they need not necessarily map to five distinct actual fonts). User agents
    should provide reasonable default choices for the generic font families,
    which express the characteristics of each family as well as possible within
    the limits allowed by the underlying technology. User agents are encouraged
    to allow users to select alternative choices for the generic fonts.

-S

On Thu, Feb 10, 2011 at 5:52 PM, Scott E. Armitage
<launchpad@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> On Thu, Feb 10, 2011 at 5:31 PM, Remco <remco47@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> On Thu, Feb 10, 2011 at 22:48, Scott E. Armitage <launchpad@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>> Sorry, but if a website wants to use a specific font, then they should
>>> specify that font in the stylesheet. The terms sans-serif, serif, and
>>> monospace are keywords that allow the browser to display text using
>>> the corresponding user-selected fonts.
>>>
>>> A web page that relies on the exact pixel-size of a font is broken to
>>> begin with.
>>>
>>
>> That may or may not be true from a developer point of view (I believe
>> DTPers might object), but from the user's point of view, Ubuntu would
>> break the web. The web is a messy place, and many broken things have
>> become part of the standard. The Liberation fonts provide a solution
>> to the proprietary fonts problem, so there would have to be a very
>> compelling reason to break compatibility again.
>
> From https://developer.mozilla.org/en/CSS/font-family (there are many
> other examples available around the web):
>
>    Generic font families are a fallback mechanism, a means of
>    preserving some of the style sheet author's intent in case
>    when none of the specified fonts are available. [...] A generic
>    font family should be the a last alternative in the list of font
>    family names.
>
> It goes on to list serif, sans-serif, cursive, fantasy, and monospace
> as the list of generic font families. Their examples detail very well
> how one is supposed to specify a web page font, by starting with the
> actual font you want, then going to the "closest" alternative that is
> most likely available to all your viewers, and finally defaulting to
> whatever class of font you want.
>
> e.g.:
>    .receipt { font-family: Courier, "Lucida Console", monospace }
>
> I want Courier!! But I guess Lucida Console is OK if you don't have
> Courier. Man, you have none of those? OK, just use a monospaced font.
>
> I see absolutely no compatibility breaking here whatsoever.
>
> -S
> --
> Scott Armitage, B.A.Sc., M.A.Sc. candidate
> Space Flight Laboratory
> University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies
> 4925 Dufferin Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M3H 5T6
>



-- 
Scott Armitage, B.A.Sc., M.A.Sc. candidate
Space Flight Laboratory
University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies
4925 Dufferin Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M3H 5T6