Web Fonts First Look

For this installment of the First Look series, James Williamson reviews the current implementation and future direction of web fonts: downloadable font resources that can be retrieved with the CSS @font-face declaration. The course begins with the evolution of online typography and current CSS font capabilities, and then dives into the W3C CSS Fonts Module specification, showing how to utilize web fonts, ensure cross-browser consistency, and how to use CSS3 to enhance the styling of web fonts. Font hosting services and tools such as TypeKit and the Google Fonts API are demonstrated. Exercise files accompany the course.

Topics include:
What are web fonts?
Understanding the font stack
Using @font-face
Rendering basics
Choosing a font hosting service
Downloading licensed fonts
Generating web fonts
Font sizing
Transforming text
Creating special effects with text shadows