5 Replies Latest reply: Mar 14, 2011 12:45 PM by kennethkawamoto2 RSS

    Anyone interested in sIFR redone in AS3

    2m Community Member

      Hi all,

      I liked the idea of sIFR for quite a while, even if I myself never used it aside from testing. The real need never came up I guess. Now I wanted to use it - if only for a small project and not with pressing need behind - and found, that sIFR has reached version 3 but still is stuck with AS2.

      I looked around further and found a jQuery plug-in and some lite-version for the js-part which are both interesting, or might be, but that was all.

       

      My questions are:

       

      • Have I missed out badly and there is still something more current as an alternative to sIFR?
      • Are there good reasons not to try to build a "new sIFR" with AS3? (And I don't mean @font-face which has legal restrictions, produces larger downloads [often] and renders mostly horrible as of now, also I don't like serverside generated images for various reasons.)
      • Would you think it is worth the effort / will anybody likely use it?
      • Would anyone like to join the fun if I decide to start rolling the ball?

       

      Thanks for your time

       

      M

        • 1. Re: Anyone interested in sIFR redone in AS3
          kennethkawamoto2 CommunityMVP

          I do not feel confortable using Flash for font replacement - my prefered method is Javascript based Cufón (if @font-face is not applicable).

          • 2. Re: Anyone interested in sIFR redone in AS3
            2m Community Member

            Hi Kennethkawamoto2,

            I considered Cufón, but I do not feel very comfortable with it. For one thing I think that there still is al lot more support for Flash out there then for canvas (IE!) and even so I have not tested it my educated guess would be that the toll on the processor is much higher than with properly programmed AS3 Flash.

            What I love about flash is, that you do not have to consider (a lot) of browser issues, which I fear we all will have to do with the next generations of browsers once we use the more advanced native features.

            Also my experience in the past very often was that there tend to be a much higher risk for side effects with other complex elements and js-frameworks.

            And there still ist the legal issue.

            So I'm not saying, that Cufón isn't a valid approach, but I feel like it is a lot more "risky" (stability wise, and as Its a lot harder to test due to the numerous rendering engines one has to rely on) for the web-site visitor than Flash is. It is a bit tricky to implement on the developer side, but I'd hope to  improve a bit on that and somehow, that is where the fun is isn't it? ;-)

             

            One way or the other I would be interested why you do feel less comfortable using Flash for font replacement than you do with java-script, especially as the sIFR way was/is to be unobtrusive.

             

            THX

             

            M

            • 3. Re: Anyone interested in sIFR redone in AS3
              kennethkawamoto2 CommunityMVP

              Well, cufon works on every browser including IE. sIFR does not work on iOS, for instance. Font foundries consider sFIR as EULA vioration, by the way. But then it's your call, of course

              • 4. Re: Anyone interested in sIFR redone in AS3
                2m Community Member

                Thanks for the info, guess I haven't read into it too deep before. I'll definitely play around with it a little more sometime soon.

                Regarding the EULA violation, I'm sure that if you ask them they will likely consider everything than outright buying the font as a violation in some way or the other I guess ;-) but do you have any concrete evidence of any actual legal proceedings about flash font-embedding? It has been around for years and I haven't heard of actual problems.

                Also I'm quite impressed with how Flash handles fonts (even without hinting in the font data) down to a sub-pixel level so I still feel that it might be worth trying it. After all if one goes through the trouble of implementing, testing and delivering any such solution it is only for reasons of readability and maximized graphical fidelity.

                But you surely have some valid points.Some of mine I feel are also still standing, and it is clear that there is no perfect and 100% legally bullet proof solution.

                 

                M

                • 5. Re: Anyone interested in sIFR redone in AS3
                  kennethkawamoto2 CommunityMVP

                  I agree Flash's font rendering being far superior to that of web browsers (especially IE).

                   

                  sIFR, Cufon, and others are in the "grey zone" of legality - but if you ask a foundry they will definitely tell you how much you have to pay to embed a font in Flash, that means if you do not pay you are using it illegally. At least that's the case for foundries I have dealt with such as Bitstream and Monotype/Linotype who can isue you "web licence". (Although unless it's for a very visible site I don't think a foundry would sue you for it ) I think it's Monotype person who said they prefer Cufon as it's more "legal" - you'll probably find an article if you search.

                   

                  Anyway, probably the most legal and "proper" way currently is to use Typekit.