5 ms·

The point is simply that if I wanted to create a website and use Circular [0] (a nice geometric font made popular by Spotify) I would need to pay based on total

by OzzyB 7y ago

The point is simply that if I wanted to create a website and use Circular [0] (a nice geometric font made popular by Spotify) I would need to pay based on total pageviews which is an unknown, so the price is unknown, which is prohibitive in the sense that I'm now tied to a font license that penalizes me based on the success of my website. Or, I could use Inter which is similar, free, better (more weights, filetype options) and I don't have to worry. This goes beyond price, I really don't want another thing to worry about and a cool font isn't worth the monkey on my back. > we have more free typefaces than ever... That's kinda the point I'm making I guess; I believe the recent rise of all these free/open alternatives to popular established ones was precisely because of the webfont-pay-per-pageviews model. [0] https://lineto.com/typefaces/circular https://lineto.com/typefaces/circular

snazz 7y ago
I get your point, but I don’t think Inter is similar enough to Circular to be a replacement for it. Inter is more of a San Francisco replacement in my book (which is how I use it on one of my websites—SF for Apple devices and Inter as a fallback). They’re both pretty, but Spotify’s UI looks very different than a UI set in Inter.
- OzzyB 7y ago
  Tbh I was just reaching for a good "free font alternative" -- ofc they wont be exact clones -- but captures that "clean sans-serif design spirit" that seems to be all the rage at the moment.
  - snazz 7y ago
    Oh, okay. I misunderstood.
tptacek 7y ago
We may just be saying the same thing. I think all I'm saying is that there doesn't seem to be anything problematic about the arrangement we've landed on.
oh_sigh 7y ago
If you don't have an idea of how many users to expect, your server costs are an unknown too. I don't see how paying per view will change that.
- ElFitz 7y ago
  Unless gp doesn't use any sort of auto scaling what so ever. In which case, the cost will be that of the (known) provisioned amount
  - oh_sigh 7y ago
    The equivalent to that would be to just buy e.g. the 100k users font license, and then stop serving traffic once you hit 100k.
    - wolfgke 7y ago
      Even alone having to implement this (and perhaps become sued if there is a bug in the code) is a massive liability for the business.
      - tptacek 7y ago
        And yet plenty of businesses use licensed fonts just fine, and, at the same time, literally nobody has to. What about this system is problematic?
    - ElFitz 7y ago
      Except that for most digital services / contents, a server is a core requirement, while any specific font isn't. I would not going to risk something as secondary to my business as font become a runaway cost, or stop providing my service / content because of something tangentially related to what I offer. And it seems gp feels the same.
- greggman3 7y ago
  A server requires energy and maintenance forever. A font does not.
briandear 7y ago
>.. penalizes me based on the success of my website. Just how I feel about taxes. “Progressive” taxation penalizes success.

by OzzyB 7y ago

snazz 7y ago

I get your point, but I don’t think Inter is similar enough to Circular to be a replacement for it. Inter is more of a San Francisco replacement in my book (which is how I use it on one of my websites—SF for Apple devices and Inter as a fallback). They’re both pretty, but Spotify’s UI looks very different than a UI set in Inter.

OzzyB 7y ago
Tbh I was just reaching for a good "free font alternative" -- ofc they wont be exact clones -- but captures that "clean sans-serif design spirit" that seems to be all the rage at the moment.
- snazz 7y ago
  Oh, okay. I misunderstood.

tptacek 7y ago

We may just be saying the same thing. I think all I'm saying is that there doesn't seem to be anything problematic about the arrangement we've landed on.

oh_sigh 7y ago

If you don't have an idea of how many users to expect, your server costs are an unknown too. I don't see how paying per view will change that.

ElFitz 7y ago
Unless gp doesn't use any sort of auto scaling what so ever. In which case, the cost will be that of the (known) provisioned amount
- oh_sigh 7y ago
  The equivalent to that would be to just buy e.g. the 100k users font license, and then stop serving traffic once you hit 100k.
  - wolfgke 7y ago
    Even alone having to implement this (and perhaps become sued if there is a bug in the code) is a massive liability for the business.
    - tptacek 7y ago
      And yet plenty of businesses use licensed fonts just fine, and, at the same time, literally nobody has to. What about this system is problematic?
  - ElFitz 7y ago
    Except that for most digital services / contents, a server is a core requirement, while any specific font isn't. I would not going to risk something as secondary to my business as font become a runaway cost, or stop providing my service / content because of something tangentially related to what I offer. And it seems gp feels the same.
greggman3 7y ago
A server requires energy and maintenance forever. A font does not.

briandear 7y ago

>.. penalizes me based on the success of my website. Just how I feel about taxes. “Progressive” taxation penalizes success.