This is the README file for the "Open Source Font Specimens" book project, a hypothetical upcoming Greyscale Press publication.
The advent of webfonts has seen enormous growth in the past few years, since support was introduced by major browsers (Safari in 2008, Firefox and Opera in 2009, Chrome in 2010), and the launch of innovative online services FontSquirrel, Typekit and Google Webfonts.
The importance of licensing issues for web-based content has put the spotlight on Open Source production models and licensing solutions for fonts. Google Webfonts is attempting to foster this development by kickstarting new open source fonts. At the same time, free software platforms such as Ubuntu, Typo3 or Android have commissioned typographers for the production of Open Source fonts.
Since nothing restricts a webfont to be solely used for screen displays, why not use them for print as well? That's the purpose of this book: it should help designers in evaluating the look and feel of Open Source fonts in regards to print production.
Selecting the appropriate font for any project requires testing, and to evaluate the end result, a paper printout will always beat a screen preview.
This book as a whole is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike (CC-BY-SA) license. The fonts are under their respective licences. The sample text (L'Eve Future by comte de Auguste Villiers de L'Isle-Adam) is in the public domain.
Greyscale Press
Neuchâtel
ISBN: 978-2-9700706-8-9
- Statement of intent: http://greyscalepress.com/2012/news/open-source-font-specimens/
- Press release: http://greyscalepress.com/?p=1581
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/TypoLibre
- Facebook Account: https://www.facebook.com/TypoLibre/