Skillswap went typographic

Back in January I was part of a double bill with Jon Tan, entitled Skillswap goes typographic. It went down really well so I thought I’d better tie it all together here.

Me presenting my final slide, by Natalie Downe

My talk was on “Facing up to Fonts” the blurb for which went as follows:

Browser support for the typographical aspects of CSS is gradually increasing. Things are on the up. Richard will be trouncing the myth of web-safe fonts, demonstrating how to go beyond bold, detailing the technicalities of font embedding and exploring the commercial and ethical minefield therein. The introduction of font embedding in particular is a long-awaited step in the right direction. However it brings with it a host of complications; technical, ethical and aesthetic.

The take home points were:

  1. Think about typefaces beyond the core web fonts
  2. Make sure your font stacks make sense and are useful
  3. There’s more than regular and bold
  4. Font embedding is here and now

Jon’s talk was on “80% Science, 20% Art” and was described thusly:

Web typography is a toddler in the big bad world of competing displays, browsers and operating systems. Jon takes it by the hand, and discusses the science that comes before the art. It’ll be a celebration with lots of opportunity for questions and discourse. From exploring how fonts are rendered, to a quick refresher on typesetting and with a little history thrown in for good measure, it’s time to get your glyph on!