We’re adding a lot more fonts to the Typekit library in the coming weeks, and rendering quality is one of our highest priorities. You can see that in our latest partnership with Just Another Foundry. We were impressed with how good FacitWeb, in particular, looked across browsers, so we asked type designer Tim Ahrens to tell us more.

Tim told us that he focuses on consistency of form in his designs and made sure that the curves are mathematically continuous. To do this, he used the RMX Harmonizer, one of a set of Font Remix Tools that he developed, and that many other type designers use routinely. In addition, Tim added manual TrueType hinting to FacitWeb, which helps it look good on machines running Windows.

FacitWeb

Tim has given FacitWeb special attention, and it really shows. The font looks fantastic on screen, in Windows, Mac, and Linux environments — see for yourself in the Browser Samples tab. Here’s an excerpt from the About text, describing the process:

“FacitWeb evolved out of Facit, and was redesigned specifically for screen display. Compared to the original design, the x-height was increased and the descenders shortened. The bold version in particular is somewhat lighter and wider – the increased counters aid legibility particularly on screen. All fonts are manually hinted, making FacitWeb a real workhorse and a strong candidate as a more refined replacement of Verdana.”

Better looking fonts, automatically

Tim also mentioned that he plans to manually hint more of his type. Just Another Foundry’s other offerings – Lapture, Zalamander, and Mashine (plus their kin: Lapture Display, Lapture Subhead, Lapture Caption, Zalamander Caps, and Mashine Rounded) – already look very good on screen, but Tim can make them look even better.

And as always, when Tim sends us newly hinted versions of his typefaces, we’ll upgrade our library. That means any website using Typekit to serve these fonts will see an immediate and automatic improvement in rendering. And when that happens, we’ll be sure to pass the news along.

Have fun using Just Another Foundry typefaces on Typekit, and let us know what you think.