The Internet was abuzz today with the news of Typekit , an upcoming product from user experience guru Jeff Veen (who helped create Google Analytics) set to launch this summer. Basically, Typekit will offer a way for designers to license fonts for use on web pages, which is a big deal because of a CSS feature that is soon to be supported in most major browsers that will allow designers to reference fonts installed on the server and render them as fonts (rather than Flash or images) for users. In other words, the web is about to get a whole lot more accessible and indexable even while it gets prettier. The problem, says Veen, is that most web fonts aren’t licensed for CSS linking or use on web pages. Even free fonts are generally not licensed for that type of use. That’s where Typekit comes in. Veen and his company Small Batch, Inc. have developed a way for designers to reference fonts installed on the Typekit servers via a single line of JavaScript under consistent, web-only font linking license. Their platform “lets us to host both free and commercial fonts in a way that is incredibly fast, smoothes out differences in

how browsers handle type, and offers the level of protection that type designers need without resorting to annoying and ineffective DRM,” wrote Veen in a blog post introducing the service. Typekit is expected to launch with both free and for-pay licensing options. While the creation of a consistent marketplace for easily and legally linking to fonts is an exciting prospect for font creators, some designers worry that this is essentially adding an unnecessary layer of complexity that will mirror the DRM issues in the music world, despite Veen’s assurances to the contrary. UX designer Kyle Meyer worries that a licensing scheme like Typekit will actually cost designers more money in the long run. “If the technology to link typefaces exists, designers can and will do so regardless of licensing. This will become the same battle DRM has been for the music and film industries, with the same outcome,” he writes on his blog. Designers, what do you think of Typekit’s concept? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. Reviews: Google Analytics Tags: CSS , fonts , jeff veen , typekit

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Typekit Offers a New Approach to Fonts on the Web