Quote:
Originally Posted by keress
I've seen articles cautioning against embedding fonts -- articles eight years old. I'm trying to get a feel for what the current wisdom is.
|
Still holds true to this day.
Embedded Fonts, if used, should be used very sparingly (I always mention Maths + Accented Greek as examples).
Maybe for chapter headings and decorative things (scene breaks)... But embedding them as the body font? Bad idea.
What typically happens is "Print Fonts" are used (because "the ebook has to look exactly like the print book!"). These fonts may look okay on paper, but come out very poorly on the various types of devices + font sizes + DPIs.
For example, the fonts are usually too thin on e-ink (JSWolf always comments about this).
The font may have also been designed for ideal reading at "12pt" in mind... but on cellphones, with small font size, the font may be too hard to read.
On many ereaders, embedded fonts will forcefully override the user's chosen fonts... (this leads to pissed off readers!).
Also, Amazon's workflow just makes certain fonts completely disappear... or break in the Look Inside.
That's just a few pain points with embedded fonts. The rest has been discussed thoroughly on MobileRead throughout the years. Just do a search for:
Code:
embedded fonts site:mobileread.com
and you'll probably run across all of them.