Putting Unusual Fonts into Web Pages

Question

On a web project for a client, we want to use a type of "script" font that looks like handwriting in a few places throughout the site. The problem is that these are not typically system fonts and so we don't think we can advise the client to use them (client likes the look); they may or may not render nicely at the client.

We are planning to go forward by just creating GIF's of various phrases using the font locally, then using those images on the site pages. This seems to me to be a little kludgy (though it should work). Is there a better alternative?

Answer 1

cufon uses javascript to replace headings and such with text rendered in a SVG or VML. It fails nicely, that is the headings are not replaced if the SVG or VML cannot be rendered.

typeface.js is similar, using the canvas tag.

Although there are always the issues with font licensing.

Answer 2

Have you looked at sIFR ? http://www.mikeindustries.com/blog/sifr/

It uses JavaScript to replace HTML-tags with a flash-movie that has the special font embedded.

Also...

The comparison between the different methods has been discussed here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/692990/sifr-vs-cufon-vs-typeface-js