Comments on: iOS 4.2 improves support for web fonts

By: Mandy Brown

Mandy Brown — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 15:53:36 +0000

In reply to jonthebeef. Typekit serves better than 97% of browsers and devices, and while that that pesky 3% will get smaller over time, it will never be zero. As such, there will always be instances when web fonts fail to load, so taking care to design the fallback scenario makes good sense. And we've given you extra tools to take control over that scenario.

By: Richard Fink

Richard Fink — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 14:44:23 +0000

@goobi
I bet you by the end of the month over 90% of users will be running 4.2, the rest of which obviously don’t care whether your website has web fonts or not.
Not the point of my questions, but the rate at which iPhone, iPad, and iPod users have upgraded in the past would be very useful to know. Considering that an OS upgrade takes about an hour – it’s not your ordinary bug patch – I’m willing to bet that you’re very, very wrong.
Anybody have facts? My search turned up nothing reliable.

Rich

By: Goobi

Goobi — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 21:42:45 +0000

In reply to Richard Fink.

Typekit on iOS has been an experimental feature, disabled by default. I think it’s commendable the company has the foresight to mark that as an experimental feature and not just say “We support iPad!”.

I bet you by the end of the month over 90% of users will be running 4.2, the rest of which obviously don’t care whether your website has web fonts or not.

By: Richard Fink

Richard Fink — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 20:06:52 +0000

Dropping support for a browser is not something we take lightly; but we believe the crashing bug is so offensive as to make supporting these browsers untenable. No one should ever experience a browser crash because of a web font; and we are taking this step to make sure that they never will.

Everybody’s entitled to change their mind in light of experience. (I do so every other minute, or so it seems, lately.)

But this does beg the question of why Typekit provided suppport for something “so offensive” to begin with, doesn’t it?

So, is this Typekit’s new policy going forward? Should browser makers take from this the message that buggy @font-face support – in Typekit’s judgment – equals no fonts from Typekit?
And if so, what are the guidelines?

Rich

By: James Issac

James Issac — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 08:17:14 +0000

Great work done by Apple in the new iOS 4.2 now i guess i wont Be facing browser crash problem ever.

thanx for sharing.

By: jonthebeef

jonthebeef — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 23:37:26 +0000

While there’s some good here, I think the decision to not support 4.1 and below is pretty disgusting. We’ve been aware of the safari bug for a while, and have arranged our font-stacks AROUND this while a better solution is sought. It’s not just about progressive enhancement, but striking that balance with graceful degradation. Without the support below 4.2, this means we have to work with YET ANOTHER font issue, which, as a net result, makes services like typekit less appealing. Why should the owner of a device with an older OS all of a sudden not see our careful, meticulous layouts not as intended. And to this end, why should we continue to pay for a service which doesn’t service our needs even partially, despite our grappling?

By: Brandt Kurowski

Brandt Kurowski — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 15:16:15 +0000

I’ve been anxiously awaiting this post ever since I found that iOS 4.2 supports TTF webfonts. Thanks for the update!

For what it’s worth, I’m glad to hear you’re dropping support for iOS versions prior to 4.2. I’d hate to have to continue to design around the crashing bug.

By: Eric

Eric — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 15:15:09 +0000

What about Opera Mobile (both 10.1 for Symbian & 10.1 for Android)?
Or Opera in general (at least Opera 11)? Are there still issues with Opera? And if yes, what are these issues and what is done to resolve them? And are those issues cross-platform or tied to a specific OS?

It would be nice to finally get some Opera love from Typekit team…

By: Hunter Harrison

Hunter Harrison — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 02:22:02 +0000

AWESOME! Previously I had integrated TypeKit and flipped on iPad support. Then, whenever I was presenting to clients with iPad in tow, it would crash. So, I had to flip support off so that I could do business.

I upgrade our families iDevices to iOS 4.2 yesterday and just tested web fonts on the iPad. Works like a charm with no issues. I am using two fonts with two different weights each. Support for iDevices will now remain on.

Thanks so much for tweeting the blog post. I never would have known otherwise.

By: Jonathan Longnecker

Jonathan Longnecker — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 21:27:37 +0000

I would humbly request you reconsider dropping support for anything lower than 4.2. It wasn’t a consistent bug by any means and worked about 75% of the time without any trouble. While Apple nerds are quick to update their software, there are ton of new iPad users that don’t have a clue about the update. I don’t think it’s necessary to continue developing for anything under 4.2, but please at least give us the option of keeping it on.