4 Jun 2011 yosch   » (Master)

BBC World Service looking into webfonts?

Even with the confusing use of "embedding" to describe webfonts and apparently no use of @font-face but only a restricted font for download for the Urdu BBC website, I find it promising to read that the BBC World Service acknowledges the need to go beyond the system fonts to deliver quality typography to visitors for content using complex scripts beyond the Latin boundary.

Some highlights from BBC World Service Language Websites: user experience and typography:

"Our strategy was to free ourselves from the constraints of system fonts by embedding a custom web font on our sites."

"We believe this is the first time this has been done on a major news site in English or one of these languages."

"We have also aimed to meet the varied cultural needs of each language by further customising the font for each site."

"Nine languages, four different scripts and two reading directions..."

"18 more language sites that require five other scripts to be worked on..."


It's very significant to see a major news outlet thinking along these lines and actually talking about it publicly. Hopefully real webfont usage is coming for increased control over distinct style and visual identity as well as a "just-works user experience" by delivering the chosen font directly to the user.

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