Bogdan Pop : Web development , Photography , Dj

During the past days I have been working on a web application’s UI and I needed some rounded corners for different content boxes. In order to achieve that I needed some CSS level 3 instructions. Looking around that, I stumbled upon something that will make a major difference in future web browsers, and future web design (as to what the user interface and website aspect is concerned). I am reffering to embedded web fonts. Yes, embedded web fonts are back. Looking for further details I’ve found an ALA article regarding this issue, posted more than one year ago (don’t know how I missed that). The paragraphs regarding embedded web fonts are somowhere down the article, but you should check it to it’s entireness.

You can check Typographica to learn why this feature could also mean a hideous web, not a better and improved one. Unfortunately, once this goes into all browsers, and will be used by many programmers, we will eventually see some kitsch choices. I guess we will have to live with them.

In order to use the embedded web fonts feature, you will need @font-face instruction included in CSS level 3. The way you should use it is quite simple.

@font-face { <font-description> }

The above <font-description> stands for

descriptor: value;
descriptor: value;
[…]
descriptor: value;
descriptor: value;
descriptor: value;

Unfortunately, there some issues regarding the embedded fonts. Just like you cannot place in your website any picture, you cannot embed in your website any font you would like to use. Typographica’s John Gruber sais: “The fonts you’re allowed to embed legally aren’t worth using; the fonts that are worth using aren’t embeddable.”

Don’t panic just yet, because there’s this list of embedded web fonts you can use for free. Now, it is up to you if you improve your creations or not.

Cheers!

Few months back I wrote a couple of articles about web hosting, and what you should look at when choosing your webhost. I also showed you some links with web hosting portals, and that time has come again.

I have previously linked you to web hosting rating websites, but some more details are rewuired. The most important thing in a web host is the uptime. The second most important thing is ping time (the lag time in which the server responds to your requests, should be as low as 30 miliseconds or less). The third thing, which most hosts forget all together is the support.

Most webhosts show great sales support, but once you get to their ship, they forget you somewhere down the deck, and never care about your issues. So be carefull.

A good place to start learning what you need to know to protect yourself when buying services in this industry is Web Hosting Rating. Dot Com. They have a pretty vast website with plenty information on web hosting. I decided to post an article about them because their design, and user architecture is somewhat standard-modern. Their website looks like most of the others in the same niche, but when I navigated through it I felt like the information, navigation elements are placed exactly where I needed them to be. The original part of their website is the web hosting tutorials section.

Now, did you really thought they do not have a web hosting awards section? Well, you were wrong. They do. They have the most thorough reviews I have seen before. They do not look that professional, but are very handy when it comes to you getting to know the web hosting companies, and their capabilities.

Check out the older posts, check out the web hosting forums, and you will definitely end up in the right place.