I really enjoy reading Mike Davidson’s blog. He tends to make time for things that most people wouldn’t think worthy to tinker with and comes out with a post that will knock your socks off. Moreover, he tends to do this in such a way that avoids the criticism that he’s omnipotent of all things web development or has too much time on his hands. In short, he comes across as a real human being who enjoys taking time to make the world (wide web) a better place – something everyone should aspire to be.
For his latest project, Mike has taken a technology I’ve been considering implementing for a while now, and of course, made it better. Shaun Inman’s Inman Flash Replacement (IFR) has been widely acclaimed since it’s first appearance in April of this year. Before IFR, font use was limited to only the fonts that the visitor had installed on their computer. Mike describes the attempts and failures of others to invent a cross-browser method of displaying fonts in an entry that reads like a good history book.
IFR has been revisited and rewritten several times since then, but Mike’s revisions have made it completely scalable, hence the spiffy new acronym: sIFR and my new founded enthusiasm for it.
Personal Note: I shouldn’t keep my wife awake at night describing the possible implications of this new technology. Especially not during the 2nd week of her last semester at UF in Chemical Engineering.
Sorry Ames. 🙂