On 10/29/2013 03:30 PM, S Page wrote:
Quim:
And if we want to specify any fonts in our works, they should be free.
Uh, why? Mac users actually have Helvetica Neue, the nicest-looking
font, Windows users have Georgia. The presence of these names in our CSS
does nothing to hinder the cause of free fonts.
Yes, it does hinder the cause of free fonts. We won't help scratching
the itch because in practice we will rely on a proprietary solution for
our UX work targeting the majority of users. While not forcing anybody
to use free fonts, our mockups, tests, reviews, screenshots and what not
will all assume the happy coincidence that Helvetica Neue ("the most
ubiquitous in advertising copy and logos") and Georgia (Microsoft
Corporation) are everywhere.
Now compare with this hypothetical scenario: we actually bet on a set of
optional free fonts, because we care about typography as much as we care
about freedom. We use them as default in our mockups, tests, reviews,
screenshots and what not. We serve them as web fonts, we bundle them in
our apps and offline versions, we promote them to the users missing them
in their systems. We take note of our own itches and user feedback, and
we file bugs and enhancement requests upstream, or send/commission
improvements. This way we contribute spreading free typography, just
like we contribute spreading other areas of free knowledge, free culture
and free software.
> Removing them would be detrimental for most of our users.
Detrimental... they would still be able to access all our content and
functionality without losing a single readable character, right? A lot
less "detrimental" than not serving them conveniently mp3, mpeg, flash,
Facebook/Twitter/Google login, and other proprietary options already
installed in your average Mac / Windows desktop that we decided not to
support.
If the above scenario to improve the MediaWiki/Wikimedia UX by improving
free fonts is not exciting, or a priority, then at least we could be
neutral and not promote actively any proprietary font either.
--
Quim Gil
Technical Contributor Coordinator @ Wikimedia Foundation
http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:Qgil
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