The mission of the Fonts Working Group, part of the Fonts Activity, is to develop a specification (a “policy language”) to allow OpenType fonts to be embedded in Web documents in accordance with the fonts' licenses.
| End date | 30 March 2010 |
|---|---|
| Confidentiality | Public |
| Initial Chairs | Steve Zilles (Adobe), Simon Daniels (Microsoft) |
| Initial Team Contacts (FTE %: 30) | Bert Bos, Chris Lilley |
| Meeting Schedule | weekly telcons, two ftf meetings |
The goal of the working group is to allow OpenType fonts to be embedded in Web documents, in particular (but not exclusively) in documents that can refer to fonts via W3C's Web Fonts technology. Currently, Web Fonts is part of CSS and SVG.
Embedded in this case means that the font is logically or physically tied to the document. In this case, that is achieved with a bi-directional link between the document and the font resource: The Web Fonts technology defines how to link (the style sheet for) a document to a font and this WG will define a (currently still nameless) mechanism that links an OpenType font to a document (or site) for which the font was made.
Web Fonts allows links to font resources that do not permit links back; we say that such fonts are linked, rather than embedded. E.g., some User Agents currently support links to standard OpenType files. Embedded fonts can exist alongside linked ones and a User Agent may support both. Indeed, both types may be used in the same document. The working group is not expected to define rules for font linking, since this is already adequately specified in CSS.
Some font licenses require the font to be embedded, others allow both embedding and linking, leaving the choice to the document's author (and yet others allow neither).
Examples of embedding technologies are “rooted fonts” and EOT.
The embedding technology must be such that an embedded font can retain all the typographic quality of OpenType (e.g., features such as glyph variants and glyph rearrangement) and an embedded font can be subsetted (e.g., all ideographs can be left out to make the font smaller if a document doesn't need them). It should also be simple to use and easy to implement.
The working group should address at least the following issues:
The working group aims to make a W3C Recommendation, which also requires developing a test suite. The Recommendation should be implemented (both renderers and authoring tools) on at least two different platforms.
The group may organize one or more workshops or meetings to gather feedback, to coordinate implementations, etc. One goal is also to continue the dialog with font designers, font resellers and graphic designers.
The expected deliverables are:
The group may also need to register an Internet Media Type for embedded fonts.
The working group will review the Web Fonts specification (which is expected to be developed by the CSS and/or SVG working groups).
Specification transition estimates and other milestones
| Deliverable | Feb 2009 | Mar 2009 | Apr 2009 | Sep 2009 | Nov 2009 | Jan 2010 | Feb 2010 | Mar 2010 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Requirements | WD | LC | Note | |||||
| Authoring guidelines | WD | LC | Note | |||||
| Specification | WD | LC | CR | PR | REC | |||
| Test suite | Test |
The group will document significant changes from this initial schedule on the group home page.
Effective participation to the Working Group is expected to consume 0.2 fte (one work day per week) for each participant; 0.4 fte (two days per week) for editors.
The working group may apply the Good Standing requirements of the W3C Process.
This group primarily conducts its work on the public mailing list <www-font@w3.org> and may also use the member-only mailing list <w3c-fonts-wg@w3.org>.
Information about the group (deliverables, participants, face-to-face meetings, teleconferences, etc.) is available from the Working Group home page.
The group holds weekly, one-hour teleconferences and two face-to-face meetings. The group may meet more or less frequently as needed.
As explained in the Process Document (section 3.3), this group will seek to make decisions by consensus. When the Chair puts a question and observes dissent, after due consideration of different opinions, the Chair should record a decision (possibly after a formal vote) and any objections, and move on.
This charter is written in accordance with section 3.4, Votes of the W3C Process Document and includes no voting procedures beyond what the Process Document requires.
This Working Group operates under the W3C Patent Policy (5 February 2004 version). To promote the widest adoption of Web standards, W3C seeks to issue Recommendations that can be implemented, according to this policy, on a Royalty-Free basis.
For more information about disclosure obligations for this group, please see the W3C Patent Policy Implementation.
This charter for the Working Group has been created according to section 6.2 of the Process Document. In the event of a conflict between this document or the provisions of any charter and the W3C Process, the W3C Process takes precedence.
Bert BosCopyright © 2008 W3C ® (MIT, ERCIM, Keio), All Rights Reserved.
Created: 5 May 2008
Modified: $Date: 2008/12/04 01:06:45 $