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In anticipation of "ugh, designers are ruining the web custom fonts", I'm glad that variable fonts are starting to percolate out. https://developers.google.com

In anticipation of "ugh, designers are ruining the web custom fonts", I'm glad that variable fonts are starting to percolate out. https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/design-and-ux/typography/variable-fonts https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/design-and-ux... Less overall file size, less HTTP requests. Combine that with preloading and font-display, we're getting to the point where webfonts aren't a giant bandwidth suck. https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/performance/optimizing-content-efficiency/webfont-optimization https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/performance/o... (More room for ad tracking scripts instead!)

crazygringo 7y ago
Oh wow, what's old is new again. I remember when Adobe launched Multiple Master fonts [1] in 1992 (same concept)... and then killed them in 1999 because not enough people were using them. I'll be fascinated to see if there's actually demand for it this time around. I personally have had tons of times I've wanted a semibold where none existed, or something halfway between regular and condensed. But I'm not convinced they're going to save bandwidth for most sites. After all, they incorporate two sets of font outlines along each dimension instead of one, right? And you rarely see a webpage that uses three variations of a font along a single dimension (e.g. sans-serif regular, semibold and bold). A "third" font and beyond is more often a different style (italics) or typeface (serif) entirely. So I don't see the savings in most cases... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_master_fonts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_master_fonts
- sings 7y ago
  I agree variable fonts won't be some magic bullet for file size, but I suppose cached versions of variable fonts means two different sites could use different axis values and the user would only have to download it the first time round. So different sites can more specifically tailor font rendering based on their own needs at no extra cost to the user.
- jcheng 7y ago
  As I understand it, Type 1 multiple master was simply superseded by OpenType variable fonts back in the 90s, which is all that Google link is describing. As a user it was a relief to have, afaict, all of the features of Type 1 with all of the convenience of TrueType.
  - jcheng 7y ago
    Huh, I’m wrong. Apparently variable fonts were added to OpenType only recently: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_fonts https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_fonts (I think the features I was thinking of were ligatures and lowercase numbers)
- matthberg 7y ago
  I do a fair bit of design in my free time, and am friends with people majoring in it. People are excited about variable fonts in academia and in design circles. I use them nearly exclusively now between Inter, Merriweather, Bodoni* by Indestructible Type, Hepta Slab, and the IBM Plexes. And this is all just for people using it in desktop design programs, since it's being embedded there at the source (designers make it before it gets to the frontend folks), it's looking promising. I'm 99% sure it'll catch on this time around, in short :)

crazygringo 7y ago

Oh wow, what's old is new again. I remember when Adobe launched Multiple Master fonts [1] in 1992 (same concept)... and then killed them in 1999 because not enough people were using them. I'll be fascinated to see if there's actually demand for it this time around. I personally have had tons of times I've wanted a semibold where none existed, or something halfway between regular and condensed. But I'm not convinced they're going to save bandwidth for most sites. After all, they incorporate two sets of font outlines along each dimension instead of one, right? And you rarely see a webpage that uses three variations of a font along a single dimension (e.g. sans-serif regular, semibold and bold). A "third" font and beyond is more often a different style (italics) or typeface (serif) entirely. So I don't see the savings in most cases... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_master_fonts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_master_fonts

sings 7y ago
I agree variable fonts won't be some magic bullet for file size, but I suppose cached versions of variable fonts means two different sites could use different axis values and the user would only have to download it the first time round. So different sites can more specifically tailor font rendering based on their own needs at no extra cost to the user.
jcheng 7y ago
As I understand it, Type 1 multiple master was simply superseded by OpenType variable fonts back in the 90s, which is all that Google link is describing. As a user it was a relief to have, afaict, all of the features of Type 1 with all of the convenience of TrueType.
- jcheng 7y ago
  Huh, I’m wrong. Apparently variable fonts were added to OpenType only recently: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_fonts https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_fonts (I think the features I was thinking of were ligatures and lowercase numbers)
matthberg 7y ago
I do a fair bit of design in my free time, and am friends with people majoring in it. People are excited about variable fonts in academia and in design circles. I use them nearly exclusively now between Inter, Merriweather, Bodoni* by Indestructible Type, Hepta Slab, and the IBM Plexes. And this is all just for people using it in desktop design programs, since it's being embedded there at the source (designers make it before it gets to the frontend folks), it's looking promising. I'm 99% sure it'll catch on this time around, in short :)