A Closer Look At Font Rendering

The Web font revolution that started around two years ago has brought up a topic that many of us had merrily ignored for many years: font rendering. The new found freedom Web fonts are giving us brings along new challenges. Choosing and using a font is not merely a stylistic issue, and it’s worth having a look at how the technology comes into play.

While you cannot change which browser and OS your website visitors use, understanding why fonts look the way they do helps you make websites that are successful and comfortable to read in every scenario. Until recently, there were only a small handful of “Web safe” fonts you could use. While offering little variety (or means of expression), these fonts were very well-crafted and specifically adjusted—or even developed—for the screen, so there was little to worry about in terms of display quality.