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Since we're still on the concept of fonts here at webmeadow HQ, let's talk about Typekit, one of the most exciting things to happen to web design in many years.  We've been talking amongst ourselves about Typekit going on a year, so we thought it was time to share.

As most of you know, websites have been limited to a core set of fonts that are shared across various computer operating systems.  So, when designers create sites that use non-web-safe fonts, the question always becomes where to keep the font (and use a graphic) and where to make it web-safe (and use plain text).  As programmers, we like plain text because it can be used by everyone on all platforms (the hearing impaired, the visual impaired, the Internet Explorer 6 impaired, etc.).  Graphics look nice, but they're not particularly versatile.

To be fair, there have been some solutions to this problem in the past, like sIFR, but they've always felt like too much of a hack for our tastes.  We tend to like graphically stunning websites with elegant behind-the-scenes code.

Enter Typekit.  All of a sudden, there is a gigantor font library that everyone can view (yes, even Internet Explorer 6).  And even better for my sanity, Typekit is web standards compliant -- no more hacking to make a non-web-safe font appear!

The only potential drawback is that Typekit is a subscription-based service that has costs associated on a per-website basis.  As professional website developers, we actually view that as a bonus, because that means the Typekit folks are always improving their service.

Thanks Typekit -- we welcome the next stage of the web!

We recently came upon a great article by Hoeffler & Frere-Jones about combining multiple fonts in a single work.  We work with fabulous designers who know how to combine fonts in their sleep, but in our own lives and personal projects, we are always on the lookout for nice rules-of-thumb for graphic layout.

Hoeffler & Frere-Jones present four palette concepts, each complete with short, compelling descriptions and shorthand for roles that the fonts play.  My favorite concept is 'wit', mostly because each of the font roles is broken into 'tough', 'cheeky', and 'sweet'.  There are already some Christmas gift applications coming to mind!

Perhaps with the concepts from H & FJ, you can make your own newsletters, birthday cards, and other projects have a bit more impact, too.

Have you ever seen that Shakespeare play "As You Like It"?  Did you know that Kenneth Branagh made a version of it a few years ago set in Japan?  Well, he did.  It's pretty good, but there's that part in the middle where Oliver and Orlando are attacked by a lion...  and he didn't bother to change it.  I think I might have yelled at the screen, "A LION???  YOU MOVED THE WHOLE PLAY TO JAPAN, BUT YOU KEPT THE LION?."

Well, my friends, today's post is like a great big lion in the middle of Japan.  Which is to say, incongruous.  When we moved the whole site to solar hosting a few weeks back, we also changed blogging software, from LifeType to Movable Type.  Obviously, I didn't want to lose all the entries we had written before, so I set out to move them over to our new Movable Type installation.  Well, Google as I might, I was not able to find one bit of help out there in the wild interwebs.

Fortunately, I am apparently some sort of "programmer"!  So I wrote my own script that takes a LifeType database and converts all of the information into a format that Movable Type can digest.  I am posting it here for all the world to see, so that the next person who wants to make the same move won't have to reinvent the wheel.

Right-click and save this file.  There are instructions in it; you'll need to be a little familiar with PHP and your LifeType database to make this work, but at least you won't have to start from scratch.

Sorry for the interruption; I now return you to your regularly-scheduled duck-watching.

#31 in our ongoing series, "Reasons You Don't Want a Website"

You know what the best part about having a business is?  Answering the same questions over and over again.  What are your hours?  What's your address?  Do you take credit cards?  And the more esoteric ones:  what does your company do, exactly?  How can I do X with product Z?  What is the meaning of life?

Sure, it might take hours out of your day to answer these types of calls and questions, and they may pop up at the least opportune moments.  But really, nothing is more fun than saying, "We close at 5pm weekdays, and we're closed on Sundays" 4 or 5 times a day.  Because how often do you get to deal with questions you actually know the answers to, right off the top of your head?  (You could answer these in your sleep!)

Apparently if you have one of those new-fangled "websites", you could put all of that information up there, and then your customers could find the answers without your help.  They could find them when you're busy or closed.  They would even find your phone number right next to the answers, in case they had follow up questions.  That could free up a lot of time in your day, but what exactly would you do with all that extra time?  Relax?  Land a new sales account? 

I'd rather answer more repetitive questions, thank you.

#23 in our ongoing series, "Reasons You Don't Want a Website"

If you have a website, people might find you.  You may innocently put up some sort of "Contact us!" page on your site, and think nothing of it.  But you know what happens?  Google happens.  Then some potential customer can just type your name willy nilly into practically any search engine, and BAM! Information on how to find your business is delivered right to them.

Obviously, this is nothing less than disastrous.   They might call you.  They might email you.  They might even wonder if there is a way for them to exchange some form of money for your goods or services.  And then what?  Who is going to respond to those emails?  Who is going to fulfill all those orders?  What in the world are you going to do with all those customers?

The path is clear:  you'll have to hire an underling.  You'll have to teach that person how to work in your business, how to make your clients happy, how to jam all that cash into the overflowing till.  You'll have to figure out how to break the news to your CPA that you've just jumped a tax bracket, then you'll have to give your underling some vacation, during which time he or she will undoubtedly be eaten by a shark, and you'll be back at square one.  

All because of that stupid website.  It's definitely not worth the hassle.