Using non-default fonts?

[Ibanez]

Hello all!

I know that one is supposed to use default font families, and I do, but in this case I really need to use american typewriter... I've searched forums everywhere for a possible answer but couldn't find anything that works...

There has to be a way for the css file to point to a font on the server (thus making it available for the user agent)?

Does anybody have any ideas or suggestions?

[dome90uk]

Hi,

have a look at Cufon - a sIFR alternative
http://cameronmoll.com/archives/2009...ont_embedding/

[knuckleball]

The most popular way to do this is through sIFR, which uses Javascript and Flash to create a movie of the text you want in the font you need.

Here's a nice list of various ways you can achieve this, while waiting for CSS3 (which will include native support for non-standard fonts).

http://bigtweet.com/c/b/twitter/nourayehia/hpmR

EDIT: If you use sIFR, be sure to test it on your remote host. Testing it on my computer has yielded poor results.

[brazenskies]

make sure to consider SEO before using sIFR

[Ibanez]

Thanks for the replies!

I want to try avoid using JS where possible...
And as brazenskies said it will affect the optimization of the site...

Maybe PHP...? Does anyone know how to achieve this? Maybe with an include or something..?

[VIPStephan]

Originally Posted by Ibanez

I want to try avoid using JS where possible...
And as brazenskies said it will affect the optimization of the site...

That should be pretty much nonsense. sIFR is completely unobtrusive and makes proper use of progressive enhancement (i. e. degrades gracefully). If somebody doesn’t have JS available plain text headlines will be shown. And this is also what search engine spiders will see. So, where does it affect SEO?

You know, JavaScript isn’t as bad as many people think it is. It just has a bad reputation because it has been misused in the past. But as I said if you write unobtrusive JS and follow the principle of progressive enhancement then there’s nothing that you have to fear.

[brazenskies]

Originally Posted by VIPStephan

So, where does it affect SEO?

sIFR, which uses Javascript and Flash to create a movie of the text you want in the font you need.

Is the text untouched in the source then?

[VIPStephan]

sIFR is adding a class to each element whose text is supposed to be replaced (.sifr-active or .sifr-replaced or something like that). Through this class CSS is applied to hide the text and display the replaced text then. However, there is still plain HTML text in the headline that can be read by search engines.

[Ibanez]

Thanx Stephan!
Im not a genius with Js yet so I guess I tend to rely on what other tell me and that was to avoid JS because spiders dislike it...

I haven't gotten round to trying it yet, Im sure once I do Ill need some help tho...

[VIPStephan]

Originally Posted by Ibanez

Im not a genius with Js yet

Neither am I.

Originally Posted by Ibanez

I guess I tend to rely on what other tell me and that was to avoid JS because spiders dislike it...

It all depends on how you use it. You can generate HTML with JavaScript that would be there but not actually visible in the output source code. If you create a document completely with this method then of course search engine spiders won’t like it because they see nothing they can interpret (they read HTML and are for the most part not able to parse JavaScript – and HTML generated through JS for that matter).

The trick is to make use of progressive enhancement. That is, have plain, semantic HTML as base (which spiders will read) and then you can remove/alter the HTML with JS to enhance the document for human visitors – as long as you don’t generate crucial parts with JS (as described above).

And sIFR does make use of progressive enhancement. It takes plain text that was marked up the usual way earlier and changes it to apply the Flash object through JavaScript. Your original source code is still the same and that’s what search engine spiders read.

Disclaimer: In the meantime as technology is advancing there might actually be spiders that are more intelligent so always consult other sources to be 100% sure. I’m not the omniscient godfather of SEO.