Beginning CSS3

CHAPTER 5

Embedding Web Fonts

For many years, web designers—frustrated by the narrow range of web-safe fonts—have been demanding the ability to embed different fonts in their web pages. It’s hard to believe, but Internet Explorer (IE) 4 was the first browser to support embedded fonts way back in 1997. Two main factors prevented other browsers from following suit: IE used a proprietary technology for web fonts; and font foundries were concerned about fonts being downloaded and reused without paying license fees.

The situation began to change rapidly after 2008–2009, when all major browsers finally offered support for CSS @font-face rules that ...