Use any font on your website with Cufón
19th May, 2009 by Ian
An example of a font rendered with Cufón
This week, a client asked us to programme a site mock-up which included non-web-safe-fonts.
In the past, I would have had to “slice” out the text and reference the particular font along with a similar replacement from five or so web-safe-fonts or create non-SEO friendly images to replace text elements.
Over the last few years, applications have appeared which allow developers to render non-web-safe-fonts using Flash. However, on the recommendation of Jeffrey Way, I decided to try Cufón, a new development which uses Javascript. (One of the reasons we decided to use the Javascript application rather than the more established Flash applications is that there are better options for the user if they don’t have Javascript turned on.)
Rather than render the text using Flash like sIFR and FLIR, it uses a mixture of canvas and VML to render the fonts. The process has been amazingly simple.
Here are some pros and cons I found while implementing Cufón:
Cufón pros
* Lightning fast
* Easy to install
* Up and running in a few minutes
* Allow CSS editing and :hover states
* Can use multiple fonts for different elements
* Search Engine Friendly (SEO)
* Not dependent upon a server-side language.
Cufón cons
* It’s Javascript dependent. If disabled, the default fonts will be used
* The text isn’t selectable.
Based in the UK’s silicon city – Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, contact miggle.co.uk for website development, content management and online media services in the UK and worldwide.
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Tags: Brighton & Hove, CSS, Cufón, East Sussex, SEO websites, web fonts, web safe fonts, website development
December 4th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
[...] has written a couple of posts this year on his experiences with both Cufon and BuddyPress. These have attracted a lot of traffic. They help establish a level of authority [...]