I thought it was just me.
: )

Yes, I am :D

I'm trying to be vague because it really will be an amazing site. I want to display the fonts for, once again, educational and inspirational purposes, and sIFR would make it that much more useful. The other option would be just gifs or pngs, but I would hate to be tied to a specific size. I realize some foundries may have problems with sIFR, Emigre is probably one off the top of my head, but if the font software isn't being redistributed or sold, would this be in violation?

I have a deep love for type and would never want to harm designers or their interests (which is why I'm trying to make sure I'm going about this the right way).

Itchyo, you seem to have a plan for what your site will do, but absolutely no reason for doing it. You talk about "educational and inspirational purposes", but that means less than nothing.

> Rest assured, the site has a purpose, and a good one.

Typophile Jr. ? :)

"Typophile Jr.?"

No, but will appeal to the same people :D

"Since you’re soliciting opinions from industry professionals, it seems a little underhanded to be so secretive about the site’s purpose."

I wouldn't say it's underhanded. I'm not cheating any of you, nor am I forcing anyone to give an opinion. If you don't want to, that's fine. I am only trying to figure out what to do here. Unfortunately, I can't reveal precisely what it is just yet. Trust me, I would love to tell all right now, but I have to wait. I've been working very hard with other to make this happen, and I would hate for everyone's work to be lost. But this is getting away from the point.

It's basically a question of better interactivity or not. And what the expense of that better interactivity is. If it infringes on copyrights, then it will probably have to go.

"If you have a question on copyrights, then you should be talking to a lawyer. You get a bunch of designers to say that it is not a copyright infringement, post your site, and find out that it is, and you might wind up in legal hot water."

Yup, that seems like the best way to go. I imagine I will have to scale back to just using static images anyway. At least at first.

"I hope you will let us know when the site is up."

I definitely will! It will be of great interest to type lovers everywhere.

"What’s your point of difference?"

Just because you ask the question differently, doesn't mean I'm going to answer it :)

Yes, it is vague, and I said as much. I only wanted to give a small frame of reference for context of the question, that being: educational and inspirational (and not commercial). It's just the setup for the question.

Sorry, but that's all it will be at this time. You can yell at me after you see it :)

The project is already well underway. I am optimistic for a launch in late summer.

I'll just note that it's my non-lawyerly understanding there are two separate things:

1) is the proposed use permitted under the EULA (end useer licence agreement)
2) is the proposed use an infringement of copyright

There are many things that might not be allowed under some particular EULA without being copyright infringement. Contrariwise, there are uses that would be infringement of copyright if they were not specifically permitted under the EULA.

All of which might just be a long way to say, go talk to a lawyer. You can get a straw poll here of what industry folks think, but that is no-where near as valuable as a well informed legal opinion.

(Note: One lawyer who I often hear people speak highly of in the area of font IP is Frank Martinez.)

Cheers,

T

Tim Ahrens: Exactly what I am hoping. I wish that we could start out with the fonts that way, but we'll work with what we've got :D

(and thanks to the others for the helpful advice and lawyer name!)