"Not only will there be an explosion of "This looks cool" font usage, I'm worried what happens when their servers or their network fails. What about when it slows down due to unforeseen spike in traffic? They haven't talked about the backup options, which scares me."
Since they are using CSS font mechanisms (I think), it will depend on what the CSS engine does. If it completely can't get a font, presumably it'll use the same fallback rules it already uses when you call for a font that isn't there. The interesting question is what exactly the browsers do for such fonts, but my guess is that they would be treated exactly like a script tag in the header, adding something that would have to be downloaded before the page will even begin to render. But, further presumably, the JS they provide and the fonts will be properly labeled with cache control headers so they don't hit the host server on every page load.
"If it completely can't get a font, presumably it'll use the same fallback rules it already uses when you call for a font that isn't there."
The question is what defines "can't get a font completely". Is it a timeout? How long is this timeout? If I spend time and resources to optimize the loading time of my site and the JS script times out getting a font, isn't that lost time for me?
This all feels like a workaround for license issues as opposed to a true solution. Type foundries should let web developers purchase fonts that can be published on the web.
Comments
"Not only will there be an explosion of "This looks cool" font usage, I'm worried what happens when their servers or their network fails. What about when it slows down due to unforeseen spike in traffic? They haven't talked about the backup options, which scares me."
Since they are using CSS font mechanisms (I think), it will depend on what the CSS engine does. If it completely can't get a font, presumably it'll use the same fallback rules it already uses when you call for a font that isn't there. The interesting question is what exactly the browsers do for such fonts, but my guess is that they would be treated exactly like a script tag in the header, adding something that would have to be downloaded before the page will even begin to render. But, further presumably, the JS they provide and the fonts will be properly labeled with cache control headers so they don't hit the host server on every page load.
See how Yahoo serves their YUI stuff: http://developer.yahoo.com/yui/articles/hosting/
"If it completely can't get a font, presumably it'll use the same fallback rules it already uses when you call for a font that isn't there."
The question is what defines "can't get a font completely". Is it a timeout? How long is this timeout? If I spend time and resources to optimize the loading time of my site and the JS script times out getting a font, isn't that lost time for me?
This all feels like a workaround for license issues as opposed to a true solution. Type foundries should let web developers purchase fonts that can be published on the web.
Most likely it is: 1. Load font.
2. Render.
3. Is font available? If yes render, if not, use next font.
If that download is taking forever, I'd imagine the page would render in the secondary font until the Load font command is eventually successful.
Define forever? ;)