4 ms·

This is fantastic! I've been waiting and waiting for Web Fonts to expand, and now I have a lot more choices than Syncopate and Raleway.

StacyC 15y ago
As if we need more than two fonts!
eps 15y ago
Don't pop the champagne just yet. Virtually all fonts listed in Google's directory render poorly on Windows in larger pixel sizes. This is caused by the lack of ClearType-specific hinting in these fonts, and it leads to the appearance of so-called "nipples" - odd pixels sticking out at the top and the bottom of glyphs and from thin horizontal strokes. More bad news is that properly hinting fonts for ClearType is a relatively expensive process, and very few foundries do it even for commercial fonts. Unless Google goes beyond simply listing fonts and starts cutting cheques to polish them, these fonts will remain largely unusable for Windows' audiences.
- cdcarter 15y ago
  Interesting! Too bad Google doesn't list that limitation, eh? Since I don't have a Windows machine to access right now, what size is "larger pixel sizes?" I'd like to know what I'm working with.
  - gimpf 15y ago
    It is already clearly recognizable at the default font size.
- ZeroGravitas 15y ago
  At I/O they seemed to be talking about some automated hinting process to try and fix this. It won't be as good a something hand-hinted by a professional but it might be good enough for some uses.
  - huhtenberg 15y ago
    FontSpring uses auto-hinting [1], which is a well-known approach and it is a step forward. It still though vastly inferior to manual hinting and tends to produce artifacts of other kinds. Also there appears to be no ClearType-specific version of it at the moment. [1] http://www.fontspring.com/fontface http://www.fontspring.com/fontface - first table, 3rd row down
- iaskwhy 15y ago
  Typekit seems to be trying to get foundries to care about this, every now and then types get improved, like this: http://blog.typekit.com/2011/03/16/skolar-web-hinted-for-better-screen-rendering/ http://blog.typekit.com/2011/03/16/skolar-web-hinted-for-bet...
- rjbond3rd 15y ago
  Maybe it's Windows that should change?

StacyC 15y ago

As if we need more than two fonts!

eps 15y ago

Don't pop the champagne just yet. Virtually all fonts listed in Google's directory render poorly on Windows in larger pixel sizes. This is caused by the lack of ClearType-specific hinting in these fonts, and it leads to the appearance of so-called "nipples" - odd pixels sticking out at the top and the bottom of glyphs and from thin horizontal strokes. More bad news is that properly hinting fonts for ClearType is a relatively expensive process, and very few foundries do it even for commercial fonts. Unless Google goes beyond simply listing fonts and starts cutting cheques to polish them, these fonts will remain largely unusable for Windows' audiences.

cdcarter 15y ago
Interesting! Too bad Google doesn't list that limitation, eh? Since I don't have a Windows machine to access right now, what size is "larger pixel sizes?" I'd like to know what I'm working with.
- gimpf 15y ago
  It is already clearly recognizable at the default font size.
ZeroGravitas 15y ago
At I/O they seemed to be talking about some automated hinting process to try and fix this. It won't be as good a something hand-hinted by a professional but it might be good enough for some uses.
- huhtenberg 15y ago
  FontSpring uses auto-hinting [1], which is a well-known approach and it is a step forward. It still though vastly inferior to manual hinting and tends to produce artifacts of other kinds. Also there appears to be no ClearType-specific version of it at the moment. [1] http://www.fontspring.com/fontface http://www.fontspring.com/fontface - first table, 3rd row down
iaskwhy 15y ago
Typekit seems to be trying to get foundries to care about this, every now and then types get improved, like this: http://blog.typekit.com/2011/03/16/skolar-web-hinted-for-better-screen-rendering/ http://blog.typekit.com/2011/03/16/skolar-web-hinted-for-bet...
rjbond3rd 15y ago
Maybe it's Windows that should change?