On 26-10-2013 18:43, Brad Jorsch (Anomie) wrote:
I came across Gerrit change 79948[1] today, which
makes "VectorBeta"
use a pile of non-free fonts (with one free font thrown in at the end
as a sop). Is this really the direction we want to go, considering
that in many other areas we prefer to use free software whenever we
can?
This is completly a non-issue. CSS Font stacks merely *refer* to a font
already installed (and paid for) on a reader's computer. There are no
legal issues arising form this whatsoever.
When it comes to selecting fonts, it is natural in web design to first
refer to the most commonly installed fonts available. If you were to
specify only free fonts, they would have no effect on the 99% of our
reader's computers, because they don't have those font installed to
begin with. In short, preferring free fonts in a font stack is utterly
pointless.
This would be different if we were to *distribute* these fonts, i.e in
the form of webfonts. In that case we are indeed restriceted to free
fonts. And as far as I know, all the webfonts we use are free.
--
Erwin Dokter