Text Replacement Roundup: The Pros and Cons of SIFR, Cufon, Typeface.js, and FLIR
Those of you who have explored rich typography solutions for web development should be very familiar with the different techniques floating around the Internet. Until majority of the population uses browsers that support CSS3, and until commercial font licensing issues allow use of the @font-face rule to become a norm, many resort to these font embedding techniques.
The thing with non-standard font embedding techniques is that they mostly rely on JavaScript and sometimes Flash or PHP to render text in whatever custom font is specified. Thus, choosing the right solution for a web project can become tricky. This article aims to compare them by listing the pros and cons of each technique.
Scalable Inman Flash Replacement (sIFR) / sIFR 3
Probably one of the first full-blown text replacement solutions, SIFR uses a combination of JavaScript, CSS, and Flash to render custom fonts.
Pros:
- Fully accessible to screen readers and assistive technology
- Partially selectable text (cannot select surrounding elements)
- jQuery integration
- Anti-aliasing results in crisp font rendering
- Flash-based font embedding is generally an allowable practice by most font foundries
- Easy to add text effects such as shadows in Flash
Cons:
- Requires Flash
- CPU and memory intensive
- Font license restrictions can be difficult to set up (e.g. Flash loading needs to be locked to your domain)
- Can be tricky to set up
- Embedded fonts cannot be printed
Cufon
Cufón aims to become a worthy alternative to sIFR, which despite its merits still remains painfully tricky to set up and use.
Pros:
- Easy to set up
- Does not require Flash
- Fastest loading and processing time (according to this presentation)
Cons:
- Inability to highlight and copy/paste text
- License issues prevent many fonts from being legally embedded
- Does not support justified text alignment
- Hover state for elements other than links might result to unpredictable results
- Requires extra JavaScript to prevent FOUC on IE7
Typeface.js
Typeface.js is similar to Cufon, using a JavaScript engine to render fonts on a browser using canvas or VML.
Pros:
- Easy to set up
- Does not require Flash
- Fast loading and processing time
Cons:
- Fonts are only selectable in browsers that support <canvas>
- Hover state is not supported, but a workaround that requires extra code is available
- License issues prevent many fonts from being legally embedded
- Long loading times in IE
- Only supports TTF (does not support .otf, PFB, and postscript fonts)
- Requires extra JavaScript to prevent FOUC on IE7
- Has spacing issues, according to some people
Facelift Image Replacement (FLIR)
Facelift Image Replacement (or FLIR, pronounced fleer) is an image replacement script that uses JavaScript, PHP and the GD library to dynamically generates image representations of text that use custom fonts.
Pros:
- Does not require Flash or JavaScript
- Fonts are rendered as an image and does not violate font licensing terms
- Many text effects available thanks to Imagemagick
Cons:
- Inability to highlight and copy/paste text
- Can be painful to set up
- Requires a web server with PHP and the GD library enabled
- Finer details of fonts are not rendered very well by the GD library
- Takes up additional server resources to process (bandwidth and CPU)
The good thing about these techniques is that they all take into account things like accessibility, SEO readiness, and browser support. These are all huge factors in web development today. For Internet Explorer users, IE6 is supported at least, and for non-supported browsers, thankfully every one of them degrades gracefully into your standard HTML rendered text.
In conclusion, every one of these techniques has its own set of advantages and disadvantages. sIFR is the oldest and most “proven method”, however it relies on both Flash and JavaScript thus taking a hit on performance. FLIR uses the old school technique of replacing text with images and even offers text effects. However, it is hardest to set up and requires a web server with PHP and the GD library enabled.
Typeface and Cufon are the most promising beign the easiest to setup. On the other hand they are both plagued with licensing issues and lack of ability to select text, which for many can be a deal breaker. This appears to be changing though, as Type Select builds on top of typface.js and promises text selection functionality. Still, it is a relatively new player and is also plagued by limitations such as lack of support in IE and no support for :hover and line breaks.
July 29th, 2009 at 11:35 am
Hey nice article, dissecting well the pros and cons of each text replacement solution. You might want to check out my article which lists 5 text replacement techniques:
http://codefusionlab.blogspot.com/2009/06/5-image-replacement-techniques-for.html
July 29th, 2009 at 10:57 pm
I never got on the JS text replacement bandwagon, but it’s nice to see all this information in once place. Good article, thanks for putting it together!
July 30th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
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July 30th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
Another plus for cufon and typeface.js is iPhone support, thanks to the use of Canvas.
July 31st, 2009 at 9:08 am
[...] Text Replacement Roundup: The Pros and Cons of SIFR, Cufon, Typeface.js, and FLIR För- och nackdelar med olika textersättningstekniker. (tags: css sifr cufon typography replacement) [...]
July 31st, 2009 at 2:58 pm
Surprised not to see FIR here… it’s the one I use.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahrner_Image_Replacement
no plugins, no javascript, just pure CSS
August 4th, 2009 at 11:48 am
@Ben Thanks for the link. The article is about rich typography solutions - i.e. automated text replacement solutions. FIR would be your standard text replacement method using images, which at its base is covered by FLIR. Cheers.
August 6th, 2009 at 3:01 am
[...] Visit link: CSS Vault Blog » Blog Archive » Text Replacement Roundup: The Pros and Cons of SIFR, Cufon, Typefa… [...]
August 27th, 2009 at 4:21 am
Good post! Thanks for sharing.
September 17th, 2009 at 10:59 pm
[...] Text Replacement Roundup: The Pros and Cons of SIFR, Cufon, Typeface.js, and FLIR [...]
September 25th, 2009 at 7:47 pm
Cufon script also generates a JS error when used in a page that does AJAX using prototype.js
Since the AJAX is much more important than any text rendering, both for user experience and site functionality, guess which one I throw out. The error occurs no matter which order the scripts are loaded in. It only actually affects IE users, FF etc manage to work despite the error/warning.
October 17th, 2009 at 3:38 am
Cool, thanks for sharing!
November 3rd, 2009 at 2:33 pm
very good!
December 6th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
http://www.mixx.com/users/arkadasfm
December 7th, 2009 at 10:08 am
ROLF @ 1st comment
December 14th, 2009 at 10:56 pm
Good post! Thanks a lot
December 23rd, 2009 at 11:47 pm
Thanks for the great post. Where is FIR in the article. As earlier mentioned this is a pure CSS, with no plugins and javascript at all.
December 30th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
The article is about rich typography solutions - i.e. automated text replacement solutions. FIR would be your standard text replacement method using images, which at its base is covered by FLIR. Cheers.
December 30th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
Thanks for the great info
January 23rd, 2010 at 11:56 pm
- i.e. automated text replacement solutions. FIR would be your standard text replacement method using images, which at its base is covered by FLIR. Cheers.
January 23rd, 2010 at 11:58 pm
Yazı hakkında tipografi çözümler zengin - yani otomatik metin değiştirme çözümleri. FIR standart metin değiştirme yöntemi de kendi üssünde FLIR ile örtülüdür görüntüleri kullanarak olacaktır. Peynir.
January 24th, 2010 at 12:01 am
Yazı hakkında tipografi çözümler zengin - yani otomatik metin değiştirme Çözümleri. FIR standart metin değiştirme yöntemi de kendi üssünde FLIR ile örtülüdür görüntüleri kullanarak olacaktır. Peynir. http://www.catici.biz
January 24th, 2010 at 12:02 am
zengin - yani otomatik metin değiştirme Çözümleri. FIR standart metin değiştirme yöntemi de kendi üssünde FLIR ile örtülüdür görüntüleri http://www.catifirmasi.com
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