Make Your Own Fonts, In a Web Browser

Dekortage writes "Although it's been up for a few weeks, today is the official launch of FontStruct, a web-based font creation tool. That's right: in your web browser, you can build your own typeface, and download it as a TrueType font. The site's user agreement requires you to release your creations online under one of the Creative Commons licenses. The typefaces tend to be a little blocky, but it's still impressive (and a great way to pass time)."

METAFONT

[Hatta]

Why not use Metafont [utah.edu]? Vastly more powerful, and available for free on any platform TeX is.

Would've Been Cool

[vertigoCiel]

About 10 years ago, when pixel fonts were all the rage. If you didn't check the site out, it allows you to create fonts in a NxN grid, using predefined primitives (circles, stars, rounded corners, etc). Not a whole lot of variety possible. If they came up with a vector-based online font creation tool, that would be something I could get excited about.

Re:They can't do that

[Oligonicella]

The site is /.ed at the moment, so I can't tell if you have to use their servers for the processing or even read their user agreement. But, all they have to do is tell you that whatever you create on their site they will keep a copy of and release, and if you agree, you relinquish copyright.

If you want to retain full ownership, do it at home.

Re:METAFONT

[stubear]

Apparently you've never created a font before. It's not a process where you set a few parameters and cross your fingers. A proper type face has specially styled italics characters, not just skewed ones, proper kerning, different weights and sizes for captions and headlines, etc. OpenType has opened up the type world to many new alternative possibilities with swashes, stylistic alternatives, tabular and old-style lined numerals and a whole slew of other options for designers to take advantage of in their work. I just don't see metafont making the process of font creation any easier than say FontLab.

Re:They can't do that

[QuantumG]

Click through contracts are rarely enforcible.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:METAFONT

[Anonymous Coward]

All that's really needed to create a font is a piece of paper and a pencil. Oh, and some creativity. Of course, after you have the basics done, then you get to have the joy of digitizing it and setting all of the kerning pairs, creating ligatures, contextual alternatives, lining and/or tabular figures, tweaking the stresses, etc etc etc. Or you could just doodle a bit in the online equivalent of MS Paint and call yourself a "type designer", which I'm sure is what many here at slashdot will do.

Screencast / Blog Post Mirror

[Anonymous Coward]

The screencast was hosted on Vimeo, so it's still up. NetworkMirror grabbed a copy before it got Slashdotted, which is over at http://www.networkmirror.com/WIuEKLdPPckjgiEb/fontstruct.fontshop.com/news/2008/05/05/introductory-screencast/index.html [networkmirror.com]

(AC = no karma whoring)

Re:They can't do that

[Lanoitarus]

You'd be correct if they were SELLING the tool, which they are not.

However, if their agreement for use says in exchange for free use of the tool, the result is XYZ license, and you agree to that, then yes, its legal for them to require it.

This is aside from the other replies addressing the fact that the server side probably does have some amount of creative input.

Re:They can't do that

[fishbowl]

>Of course, none of this has been tested in court.

Hardly anything has been more thoroughly tested in court than the rights reserved under copyright law,
and the effect of licensing those rights.

Re:They can't do that

[Anonymous Coward]

IANAL, but my understanding is that fonts cannot be copyrighted, I had previously believed that it was for free speech reasons (what if someone copyrighted every font? also, what's the real difference between a letter in a font and a letter spoken in a certain way?), but googling found that to not be the reason [about.com] they aren't copyrightable here.

Re:METAFONT

[zsau]

That's precisely the point behind METAFONT. It's meant so that you can specify the basic shape of the letters and a shitload of parameters, and you'll get a lot of italic letters ("n" or "i", but not "a" and "z"), weights, sizes etc. essentially for free. Obviously some things still need to be done manually; I doubt you could generate old style or lining figures from the same source.

The problem with METAFONT is that most people can't design something graphical without seeing it; and that there's a lot of work involved in correctly parameterising a font. But as evidence that it's possible, that's precisely how Computer Modern is designed, which comes with bold, italic and small caps fonts and distinct sizes from very small to title case. I personally don't like the look of Computer Modern — or any "modern" font — but Knuth's done it.

Re:Don't Like The Forced CC License

[stewf]

Hi. I'm part of the FontShop team responsible for FontStruct. We're down right now (for obvious reasons -- ouch!) or I'd link you directly to the FAQ page on licensing, but I'll try to clarify it here.

There is no requirement to license your work. New FontStructions are private by default and you can download it for yourself to your heart's content. Only when you choose to make it public do you need to select a CC license.

Re:They can't do that

[jbengt]

Every time a browser renders a document, Google caches a web site, a printer "receives" a document, or a graphics card transfers data, they are violating copyright law

No, in the USA at least, the law explicitly allows the transient copies made by computers, network transfers, etc. Google cahces are a little les clear, though.