Is there a way to tell if a font is free? A designer gave me some fonts that their web page should use (css font-face src) but I have no idea if these files are free or not.
One of the fonts is Myriad Pro Regular. From the net I can see it's easy to download, but that doesn't mean anything. Wikipedia says it's included with Adobe stuff, but that doesn't mean it's free.
a) Does anyone know if this font is free for anyone to embed in their web site?
b) Is there a generic way to tell if a font is free or not?
c) Does anyone care? (My use scenario puts it on an important (read: sue-able) enterprise web site, so I may have to care a bit more than Joe Shmoe might.)
Thanks!
On Feb 13, 2016, at 7:52 PM, Trevor Cordes trevor@tecnopolis.ca wrote:
Is there a way to tell if a font is free? A designer gave me some fonts that their web page should use (css font-face src) but I have no idea if these files are free or not.
One of the fonts is Myriad Pro Regular. From the net I can see it's easy to download, but that doesn't mean anything. Wikipedia says it's included with Adobe stuff, but that doesn't mean it's free.
a) Does anyone know if this font is free for anyone to embed in their web site?
b) Is there a generic way to tell if a font is free or not?
c) Does anyone care? (My use scenario puts it on an important (read: sue-able) enterprise web site, so I may have to care a bit more than Joe Shmoe might.)
Thanks!
Sounds like this one is not entirely free. http://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/350/web-safe-alternative-to... http://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/350/web-safe-alternative-to-myriad-pro-font "And a quick Google search shows you can use it on the web using Typekit (with a $24.99/year subscription): http://typekit.com/fonts/myriad-pro"
The various discussions are recommending PT Sans on Google Fonts https://www.google.com/fonts/specimen/PT+Sans https://www.google.com/fonts/specimen/PT+Sans Some also recommended Droid Sans https://www.google.com/fonts/specimen/Droid+Sans https://www.google.com/fonts/specimen/Droid+Sans
Theodore Baschak https://ciscodude.net/
On 2016-02-13 07:52 PM, Trevor Cordes wrote:
Is there a way to tell if a font is free? A designer gave me some fonts that their web page should use (css font-face src) but I have no idea if these files are free or not.
One of the fonts is Myriad Pro Regular. From the net I can see it's easy to download, but that doesn't mean anything. Wikipedia says it's included with Adobe stuff, but that doesn't mean it's free.
a) Does anyone know if this font is free for anyone to embed in their web site?
b) Is there a generic way to tell if a font is free or not?
c) Does anyone care? (My use scenario puts it on an important (read: sue-able) enterprise web site, so I may have to care a bit more than Joe Shmoe might.)
Short answers:
1. no, it's not free, and no, you can't put it on a website.
2. no, there's no generic way. It depends 100% on how and where and under what terms the font was acquired. You could have two customers hand you the same .TTF file, but one can use it legally on their website, and the other can only use it legally in print material.
3. Yes, Adobe cares quite a bit. How and when (and if) it would be brought to their attention, who knows. But you're definitely incurring financial & legal risk.
Have a read specifically about Myriad Pro here: http://www.krolldesign.net/tech/css/myriad_font.php.
If it absolutely HAS to be Myriad Pro, go license it at TypeKit for web use. Otherwise, I don't see ANY licensing options that allow you to use it on the web. There is a free tier at TypeKit, but Myriad Pro is only included with the US$50/year Portfolio license.
If you have a lot of clients using Adobe-licensed fonts, the TypeKit Portfolio subscription is a pretty decent deal. Buying, e.g. Myriad Pro, for unlimited web use, would probably run around US$3000 based on what similar fonts cost.
-Adam
-
Adam Thompson -
Theodore Baschak -
Trevor Cordes