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Using Non-web Based Fonts

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KC Cufón font replacement pluginOn the majority of the sites that I have built or worked on, a non-web based font is usually used for headers and special text. There are a number of different methods of using non-web based fonts on your website. In the past, I had been using sIFR, but it is slow, difficult to setup and get working. I recently came across a JavaScript alternative method called Cufón.

As Cufón is a JavaScript based solution it is faster than sIFR and I have found it much easier to setup. The Cufón project has a web-based font creation wizzard to make your Cufón font file, so you don't have to have any Flash program to create the font file, like you do with sIFR. You only need a TrueType (TTF), OpenType (OTF), Printer Font Binary (PFB) or PostScript font.

I searched the Joomla! extensions directory to see if anyone had written a plugin to use Cufón fonts on a Joomla! website. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a solution for Joomla! 1.5. I therefore wrote a plugin which will allow you to specify your Cufón font for different CSS selectors. You can find more information about this plugin: KC Cufón Font Replacment on our extensions site: www.keashly.net.

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avatar Antique shops online
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Cufón aims to become a worthy alternative to sIFR, which despite its merits still remains painfully tricky to set up and use.
Tuesday 11 May 2010, 02:21
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avatar manhattan pressurized walls
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I had been using sIFR, but it is slow, difficult to setup and get working.
Friday 14 May 2010, 04:25
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avatar Laurelle
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Hi,

I have found Cufón to be a lot easier to setup and get working than sIFR. If you follow the instruction the Cufón Project provides it is quite simple to get working.

Most of the problems that people have are because they didn't read the docmentation.
Friday 14 May 2010, 08:42
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avatar golobal tel link
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My questions ..while using non web based fonts aren't we playing with the performance of the websites...in terms of content optimization ? Will it leave a major effect at the time of crawling and indexing of the web pages. ?

global tel link
Thursday 27 May 2010, 18:03
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avatar Laurelle
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Hello,

There is no doubt that using any of the non-web based font methods increases the code size and slows down the site. Cufón seems to have the least impact from my testing. Cufón does add some code bloat, but the text is still in the code for crawling and indexing the pages.
Friday 28 May 2010, 02:45
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avatar mehmet
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Thank you for your article.
Wednesday 21 July 2010, 20:04
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avatar Adrian
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I've recently faced this problem and after some search found by http://www.mp3hunting.com SE and listened to a very interesting article from which i learned that Mark Wubben and Mark Davidson, two JavaScript and Flash developers, came up with a unique technique back in 2004 of incorporating non-standard web fonts in modern-day Web 2.0 websites. Relying on a simple variable input inside a SWF file that contains an embedded font, developers can rapidly embed Flash objects instead of old, stylish images containing the desired non-web font. Cufon seems to be fine as well, so at present I'm confused which solution is better.
Wednesday 21 July 2010, 23:27
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avatar Laurelle
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Hello,

The technique that you are referring to above is called sIFR. sIFR is slower and a little more trouble to setup than Cufón.
Thursday 22 July 2010, 03:17
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avatar seo company
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How can I make my fonts downloadable to others?

Wednesday 25 August 2010, 18:10
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avatar Laurelle
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Hello,

When using the Cufón generator, don't put anything in the domain field, leave it blank. Then your font can be used on any domain.
Thursday 26 August 2010, 02:42
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avatar Antique Collefctible
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How can I use that?
Tuesday 07 September 2010, 03:39
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avatar Laurelle
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Hi,

Go to http://www.keashly.net/typography/kc-cufon-font-r eplacement which will explain how to use the plugin.
Tuesday 07 September 2010, 04:25
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