141–150 of 169 posts
The silliest thing I learned years ago was that the license only applies to the "software" of the font. In the US, you can literally go and vectorize any font in the world and do whatever you want with it. "In the United States, the shapes of typefaces are not eligible for copyright, though the shapes may be protected by design patent (although these are rarely applied for, the first US design patent ever awarded was…
I like Matthew Butterick’s approach. He sells whole families at a time (on a pay-once basis), offers discounts if you get the whole library, and the license is short, to the point, and reasonable: https://mbtype.com/license/
It's a lot better than most, that's for sure. But I still don't understand why they have all these arbitrary usage rules like the maximum of three websites. I look at fonts like tools. As a dev who also does design I should be able to buy it once and have it available as a tool at my disposal.
We'd see similar restrictions on licensing for other 'tools' (compilers, maybe?!), if there wasn't so much competition including open-source options.
Let's be a little more real here. Very, very few font designers are getting rich off of their fonts. Since these are digital objects piracy is a big factor. The reason they have the page views in there are usually so giant corporations like Coca-Cola can't buy a $500 license and serve it up to millions. There are thousands of cheap or free options out there. This isn't a case where there's a limited supply.
Font designers are trying to do both at the same time, and as a result the experience sucks.
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This sounds like a typeface is not copyrightable but only because the mechanism for protection is different (patent system). So by doing what the GP suggests you wouldn't be violating copyright, but you may be in violation of the design patent on the typeface?
I'm not sure how common design patents are though. Relative to copyright, patents are much shorter duration and much more expensive and time-consuming to get whereas copyrights just happen (though you may want to register for greater protection--but that's still cheap and easy.
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Not only the privacy issue, but the point where Google decides to charge for fonts, or drop it completely, and your website suddenly gets ugly. I always download the font and serve it myself. Arguing with designers about fonts isn't fun. I totally understand how they want the pretty thing to fit in with their artistic vision, but the pain and cost of paid fonts is such a huge drag that I refuse to do it (especially i…
It has got heated in the past. I have found "find a new web designer" to be one of the less difficult tasks to land in my backlog.
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It's a lot better than most, that's for sure. But I still don't understand why they have all these arbitrary usage rules like the maximum of three websites. I look at fonts like tools. As a dev who also does design I should be able to buy it once and have it available as a tool at my disposal.
I suspect, and I'm just guessing here, that they're fine with people like us using their fonts and maybe tip-toeing over whatever lines they've set, but they don't want, say, Coca-Cola using their typeface everywhere without forking over big bucks. Were I a typeface designer, I'd like to think I'd say to myself, Self, what are the odds? Just charge $20 and rely on human decency. But I'm not a typeface designer, and m…
Companies are under no obligation to pay more than what you are asking for. If you want more, then license it the way you want.
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I suspect, and I'm just guessing here, that they're fine with people like us using their fonts and maybe tip-toeing over whatever lines they've set, but they don't want, say, Coca-Cola using their typeface everywhere without forking over big bucks. Were I a typeface designer, I'd like to think I'd say to myself, Self, what are the odds? Just charge $20 and rely on human decency. But I'm not a typeface designer, and m…
Human decency is not a legal construct. Licensing terms say you pay this, you get that. If you sell a font for $20 then you se it for $20,regardless of who or what buys it. Companies are under no obligation to pay more than what you are asking for. If you want more, then license it the way you want.
For a more gracious understanding of my comment, consider that I meant human decency might compel someone to honor the terms of the license, rather than abuse or ignore them. Relying solely on human decency would mean no auditing, no installed spyware, etc. That so few companies go this route suggests that despite having clear licenses, the humans involved aren't practicing decency enough to pay the bills.
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It has got heated in the past. I have found "find a new web designer" to be one of the less difficult tasks to land in my backlog.
There's a tradeoff here I think. Designers should be passionate about their design, and push for the details that matter to them. But there's a line - too passionate and it becomes unworkable. But too far the other way, where they're not fighting for their design and too willing to compromise it, and you end up with lacklustre designs.
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> Websites shouldn't be magazines. Why though? We’re in 2023 and magazines got out of print to move to the web. Telling literal magazines “no, you shouldn’t exist here” is pretty harsh. But I’ll grant you the mental image is powerful. I imagine you going to a restaurant and shouting “what’s with the decorum ? And that background music ? and all this space between tables ? this should be a warehouse with everyone sitt…
I'm happy to chose to have an experience, frankly I enjoy fine dining. But I refuse to go if I can't get access to the prices beforehand. There is a difference between an authentic experience (say the opera) and using it as a manipulative tactic. Do not get between me and the information. If I call an ask how much the lobster bisque is, don't tell me to hold while they get ahold of someone who can say it with a Frenc…
Lets say instead of telling you to hold while they get a person with a french accent on the phone, they only pay people with french accents to answer the phone. There are a little less people with french accents working at the restaurant, but still enough to get the phone answered with only a slight delay compared to a more traditional restaurant phone line. There's also a special 'no fuss' mode on your phone, where you can just chat with the phones default voice assistant. There's no waiting time, and the voice assistant fetches the correct data from the restaurants website and presents it conversationally.
Of course, if all of the people with french accents called in sick for work, the phone might end up unanswered. The problem should be able to be fixed, though, by having some sort of fallback mechanism to people with italian accents.