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Moving the Font Matrix forward

In December, as part of 24 ways, I proposed that we web designers increase our font stacks with help of a font matrix. The font matrix is a list of all Western fonts installed with Windows and Mac operating systems and common software suites.

The implication is that there’s a high likelihood your readers will have more fonts installed than just the core web fonts, so why not specify these other fonts as well. But, as m’learned friend Stuart Langridge wrote (via email):

it would be approximately 975 times more cool (and I know this because I’ve measured it) if the font matrix was available in some form where those of us who don’t have all the fonts can still see what they look like.

And he’s entirely right; it would be great to see what all the fonts look like. There are a few resources which do show samples of most of the fonts in one place, and of course Google will happily lead you to resources for one font at a time.

But I think Stuart hasn’t set his sights high enough here. While it would be useful to see detailed samples of all the common fonts in one place – if I had the time I would put this together for one and all to use – what would be even better would be suggestions of font-family font stacks. Or even better, automatically generated font stacks, based on pre-determined associations between fonts. How would these associations be determined? Through the power of the collective, of course.

What I imagine (for I’m afraid this is all fantasy) is a website where folk can input a font, and then associate fonts they think would be suitable font-family back-ups. Some software magic could then amalgamate this community input and generate suitable font stacks, based on rules of including a generic font family, a Windows OS font, a Mac OS font, Linux OS fonts, optionally an Office font, and optionally a CS font.

So if that sounds like a challenge you’d be up for, I say go for it, and I’ll help where I can. Update Mulling this over in the shower (as you do) it occurred to me that, conceptually, what I’m proposing is a weighted tagging system where a given font is tagged with other fonts in order of preference. With the addition of some tags (fonts) being required from pre-defined pools.

3 February 2008

§ Typography

17 comments

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  1. 1

    That would be AWESOME! Something like color themes, but with fonts. I hope there’s someone out there with the talent, time and ambition to develop something like this.

    Bryan Peters
    Bryan Peters’s Gravatar
    3 Feb 2008
    16:39 GMT
  2. 2

    Now that’s a grand vision. Sounds a bit like Adobe Kuler, only for fonts, and with a little more algorithm shenanigans. Let’s hope there’s a font fanatic with enough motivation to take up the challenge.

    An additional request: Please make an incredibly viral Facebook application which forces the 70 million FB users to install the top font stacks.

    Neil
    Neil’s Gravatar
    3 Feb 2008
    18:13 GMT
  3. 3

    Fonts in web content will remain a sad sad story until browsers can use fonts from the web.

    http://www.w3.org/TR/css3-webfonts/

    There’s no freedom when you are restricted to using fonts that are already locally installed.

    James Justin Harrell
    James Justin Harrell’s Gravatar
    3 Feb 2008
    19:45 GMT
  4. 4

    suggestions of font-family font stacks

    Oh, please, yes. In the same way that there are plenty of “colour matchers” to help non-designer people like me choose a set of complementary colours, a similar thing for fonts would be superbly useful for non-typographer people (like me again).

    Stuart Langridge
    Stuart Langridge’s Gravatar
    3 Feb 2008
    22:01 GMT
  5. 5

    That does sound pretty cool. A simpler option might be an interactive version of your matrix, so when you select your preferred font it lists fonts from different os/software combinations to help you easily build a stack that covers all bases in a few clicks.

    I’d be interested in working on something like this, although I couldn’t afford to buy all the fonts for server side rendered previews! Pre rendered samples would be doable though. People could create stacks and tag them, so you’d have tags on fonts and relationships between fonts, and you could even find neighbours of taste! Email me if you want Richard, this would be cool to work on.

    Thom Shannon
    Thom Shannon’s Gravatar
    4 Feb 2008
    17:14 GMT
  6. 6

    “...available in some form where those of us who don’t have all the fonts can still see what they look like.”

    Perhaps the Type Tester will suffice: http://typetester.maratz.com/

    A resource for font-family stacks would also be great.

    Michael Montgomery
    Michael Montgomery’s Gravatar
    4 Feb 2008
    17:21 GMT
  7. 7

    I couldn’t afford to buy all the fonts for server side rendered previews! Pre rendered samples would be doable though.

    Absolutely. I just meant some pre-rendered samples, particularly of the OS and application suite fonts.

    Rich
    Rich’s Gravatar
    4 Feb 2008
    17:28 GMT
  8. 8

    I have been looking for a project to work on and this sounds doable, I have started playing with the database and so far I have the basics of that sorted.

    I will be sure to let you all know when the project is up in its early stages so you can all start adding to the database :)

    Nicholas Mullen
    Nicholas Mullen’s Gravatar
    4 Feb 2008
    18:09 GMT
  9. 9

    That’s great Nicholas. Keep us posted, and if you need any input just drop me a line.

    Rich
    Rich’s Gravatar
    5 Feb 2008
    09:27 GMT
  10. 10

    Heck, even just adding graphics of the fonts to your original matrix would be lovely. (If inordinately time-consuming.)

    But I love the idea of a font-stack mixer, too! I’m looking forward to Nicholas’s project. :)

    Elaine Nelson
    Elaine Nelson’s Gravatar
    5 Feb 2008
    17:13 GMT
  11. 11

    I’d be happier with a design paradigm that respected the default setting that I chose for my preferences.
    While I really do appreciate the creativity and stylistic care that goes into equating web design to the archaic desktop publishing world, people have to jerk around with the browser to be able to consume your intended content.

    Steve Buell
    8 Feb 2008
    01:14 GMT
  12. 12

    Elaine Nelson wrote: [..] even just adding graphics [...] (If inordinately time-consuming.) [..]

    doesn’t need to be so, these images can be generated on the fly, see www.dafont.com for instance..

    I completely agree with the concept btw, good thinking!
    If the font-family stacks are properly linked then one set could/should enable you to drill deeper, ie; the fonts in the stack might have other stacks associated with them. A user could then choose a certain amount of fuzzy-ness to cater to even more users.. A ‘level of decendants’ setting if you will.

    Also, as a buisnessmodel you could look at type foundries with affiliate programs (for the non-free fonts) so the system funcitons as a selling point too.

    I can defenetly see this working…

    Patrick Kanne
    Patrick Kanne’s Gravatar
    9 Feb 2008
    01:09 GMT
  13. 13

    doesn’t need to be so, these images can be generated on the fly

    Technically you’re right – it’s pretty easy. But you need a licensed copy of each font to do it properly.

    Rich
    Rich’s Gravatar
    11 Feb 2008
    08:47 GMT
  14. 14

    Technically you’re right – it’s pretty easy. But you need a licensed copy of each font to do it properly.

    Or convince a forward thinking font shop to provide an API for generated samples?

    Tom H
    Tom H’s Gravatar
    14 Feb 2008
    15:52 GMT
  15. 15

    For those that are interested you can see my work in progress on the font matrix @ www.fontmatrix.org

    Nicholas Mullen
    Nicholas Mullen’s Gravatar
    15 Feb 2008
    15:41 GMT
  16. 16

    Just stumbled across this, what an excellent idea!

    Web Guy
    Web Guy’s Gravatar
    29 Feb 2008
    13:48 GMT
  17. 17

    I’ve been reading your blog for quite a while. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Your vision would be great to avoid being roped into locally installed fonts.

    Typography is definitely one of the most underrated design skills, and certainly one of the most important. Automatically generated font stacks, based on pre-determined associations between fonts would certainly improve the web.

    Ottila Jordan
    Ottila Jordan’s Gravatar
    1 Mar 2008
    20:26 GMT

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