Category Archives: WebINK
Webcast: “Web-Safe” Fonts Are Dead; Web Fonts are Here to Stay
May 15th, 2013 by Amanda Paull
Join Thomas Phinney, our in-house typography guru, for part 3 of the Web Safe Fonts Are Dead Webcast series.
It’s the Wild West with web fonts online, but we’ll help you navigate a safe journey. You do not need to have attended the first 2 to get everything out of part 3!
Tuesday, May 21, 11:00 a.m. Pacific / 2:00 p.m. Eastern
Register to attend. Can’t attend? Register anyway, we’ll send you the recording to watch on your own time.
Get all the deets on the WebINK blog.
SXSW® Interactive 2013: Join Extensis
February 6th, 2013 by Amanda Paull
We will be storming Austin in March. Why not join us?
Enter to win your SXSW Interactive Platinum Badge. It’s simple.
- Create a FREE account on WebINK
- Follow @webink on Twitter
- You’re entered to win!
- 2 Winners will be selected on February 19, 2013.
So many activities, so little time to sleep!
- Font Detective Extra Bold Talk with Thomas Phinney
- Passion for Typography Meet-up with Jim Kidwell
- Digital Hoarders Roundtable with Edward Smith and Jim Kidwell
- Hack-a-thon for Social Good in conjunction with our buds at WebVisions
Get all the deets right here on the WebINK Blog
Hands-on with web fonts at the AIGA Chicago workshop
November 19th, 2012 by Edward Smith
Thomas Phinney and I were in the Windy City this last Saturday along with AIGA Chicago to conduct a (sold out) web font workshop. The idea for the workshop was simple: get a bunch of designers and their laptops into a classroom, and walk them through the process of using real web fonts on a website.
Before the hands-on part of the workshop, Thomas also primed the class on interesting and useful topics related to web fonts such as the history of typography on the web, advanced OpenType and CSS3 features, and how to choose fonts and set type.
My favorite part of Thomas’s presentation was when he demoed a self-censoring font: type in a swear word and the font automatically “translates” the curse into something more socially acceptable.
As for Tori R. from Chicago, I’m guessing her favorite part was when she won an iPad Mini (congrats Tori!)
A big thanks goes to AIGA Chicago and Artisian Talent for helping put on the event, as well as Starter League (formerly known as Code Academy) who hooked us up with classroom space at 1851—a hip co-working center for digital startups.
Are you interested in a web font workshop in your city? If so, let us know in the comments section below.
NEW: WebINK plug-in for WordPress
August 14th, 2012 by Jim Kidwell
Today we’re happy to announce a new way to use web fonts with WordPress – the WebINK plug-in for WordPress.
This plug-in makes it easy to use web fonts on your WordPress site by allowing your site authors to select WebINK web fonts from the Font menu of the WordPress visual editor. No complex coding or knowledge of HTML and CSS required. Just good old web fonts.
1600 New Fonts added to the Web Font Plug-in for Adobe Photoshop
May 14th, 2012 by Jim Kidwell
You want options when you’re designing web sites. When you’re mocking up a site for a client, you don’t always want to purchase a ton of assets for that site if you’re not sure that the client will approve them. That’a why you use FPO sample images, and why we’ve provided the Web Font Plug-in for Adobe Photoshop. The plug-in provides free access to thousands of fonts from WebINK, free-of-charge to use in your website mock-ups.
Today we’ve added over 1600 new fonts to the Web Font Plug-in, bringing the total to over 80% of all of the fonts in the collection!
This is a great way to test fonts for your creative projects. Once you’ve selected the fonts that you need, add them to your WebINK projects for use in your final site.
It’s easy to get started. Download the Web Font Plug-in today.
WebINK Relaunched:
big changes are afoot!
May 2nd, 2012 by Jim Kidwell
Today we’re proud to announce that we have made some pretty big changes to WebINK.
Whether you’re a hardcore web developer and have been using web fonts in all of your projects, or are new to the fast-paced world of web design, I’m sure that you’ll appreciate the improvements to WebINK.
In short, we’ve made these changes:
- Updated yearly pricing
- FREE Development level of use
- Usage based on monthly unique visitors
- Redesigned, refreshed site
Check out our Presentations on Web Fonts and DAM from the TFMA Event in London!
March 14th, 2012 by Alexandra Barltrop
We had an amazing time at the Technology for Marketing & Advertising event in London a couple of weeks ago. It was our third year attending and we were happy to meet many of you who are as mad about fonts and DAM as we are!
Davin Kluttz, our Senior Product Manager came all the way from Extensis HQ in the US to present two amazingly well received seminars (seriously, they were queuing out the door!) for us.
The first one was “Classy, Clowny or Crude? How your site’s typography affects your brand”, which illustrates how web typography affects your website, and how you can select and implement web typography that is just right for the job. So many people these days think it’s OK to use Comic Sans on their websites. This may come as a shock, but it just doesn’t cut the mustard! Davin illustrated this by showing how some iconic brands would look if their logos were in this font (Chanel, Coca-Cola, Star Wars) which got several laughs from the crowd. To drive the point home, he also showed us several examples of “classy”, “clowny” and “crude” web typography, which gave the audience a feel for the direction in which they should be taking their sites.
The second one was entitled “What does this DAM thing do?” Ever find yourself pulling your hair out trying to locate an image in a sea of thousands? Don’t you think it would be nice to preview a video on your iPad without a special plug-in? Or even just have access to all your digital content on the go, so you are able to act fast if a client unexpectedly throws a “let’s see it now” lasso around your neck? Well Extensis has a solution for all of these problems and it was all nicely wrapped up in this presentation, which not only explained what an ”asset” is, but also demonstrated how to leverage digital asset management solutions to find, locate, archive and access files, regardless of location.
If you couldn’t make it to the show, couldn’t get in to the theatre or would simply like to see what we had to say on web typography and digital asset management, we have very kindly provided the slides from both presentations below!
Enjoy! If you have any feedback, please let us know – we’d love to hear from you.
10 not-so-obvious things you should do to prepare for SXSW 2012
March 5th, 2012 by Edward Smith
Extensis, WebINK, and platinum pass winner Michael Stevens are headed to the Austin convention center this week! Stop by booth 513 at the SXSW trade show to see what we’ve been up to with our web font service, and to get entered into a drawing for an iPad 3.
If you’ve ever planned for SXSW you’ve probably seen lists of tips and checklists about preparing for the event. We wanted to provide our own list of not-so-obvious things you can do to prepare for one of the world’s craziest events:
1. Stop drinking caffeine
The idea is that Starbucks addicts abstaining for a few days may lower their caffeine tolerance. Then that quad grande no-whip mocha macchiato you order Sunday morning might actually help keep you awake for a few more hours. Although this sounds good in theory, your performance and mood may suffer during the detox period
2. Bring a power strip
SXSW interactive is a conference full of nerds with electronic toys (like myself) which means power outlets are a scarse resource. Make new friends and keep your gear charged by bringing a multi-outlet power strip with you.
3. Free up space on your smartphone
Copy all those old photos and videos off your phone so you have plenty of room to take more photos and videos.
4. Write a blog post about preparing for SXSW
SXSW is a hot topic that can drive a lot of traffic to your site, and writing a blog post about preparing for the event is a great way to think through your plans. If your employer is sponsoring your trip, posting about it on the company blog might even improve your chances to return next year (ahem).
5. Dont forget your typeface
Are you promoting a product or yourself at the show? Don’t forget to pack your business cards, booth swag, demo materials, or whatever else is needed for you to stand out beyond the noise. For us, it’s our Mt. Default typography photo booth (once again, that’s trade show booth 513 folks!)
6. Obsessively check your travel arrangements
Login at least once a day to your hotel and airline websites and check your reservations. Was there a plane equipment swap and now you’re stuck in a middle seat? Did a bulkhead or exit row seat open up with that sweet extra legroom? Does your hotel reservation have your rewards number attached to it? Has your Austinite cousin’s spouse found out about you sleeping on the couch for 10 nights?
7. Bring comfortable shoes
You’re going to be doing a lot of walking, standing, dancing, strutting, and shuffling so make sure your feet are protected by a pair of comfortable kicks.
8. Dress for the climate
This can be especially hard for north-westerners like myself, but Austin in March can be much warmer than Portland. This means bringing sunscreen and sunglasses and light clothing options. However, you should also be prepared for chilly evenings and unpredictable weather.
9. Prepare to party crash
Head over to the WebINK blog and learn the 10 ways you can sneak into parties at SXSW for when you don’t have an RSVP or the proper credentials.
10. Plan to stop by booth 513 at the tradeshow
I heard they’ve got some cool stuff there and are giving away an iPad 3.
Are you an SXSW veteran or a South-By Newbie? What’s essential and not-so-obvious to you when it comes to preparing for the event? Let us know in the comments section.
10 ways to sneak into a SXSW party
February 7th, 2012 by Edward Smith
SXSW is about a month away - do you have your badge yet? If not, no problem!
After hosting our official Graffiti Lounge party last year, we learned several effective techniques to crash SXSW parties for the free food, music, and drink.
If you want to get down without throwing down the cash for a badge, head over to the WebINK Blog to learn 10 tried and true ways to sneak into parties at SXSW 2012.
Top 10 ways to sneak into a SXSW party
Webcast Series: Web Typography Best Practices
September 1st, 2011 by Jim Kidwell
Typography is as important on the Web as it is in any other medium, but the considerations are different, and the capabilities are changing rapidly. Join typography guru and type designer, Thomas Phinney for the first webcast in a three-part series to learn the latest best practices for web fonts and web typography. In Part I, Thomas takes on font selection: choosing (and combining) fonts for web sites.
Attend this webcast to:
- Why @font-face has replaced previous approaches to custom type on the web (images, sIFR, etcetera)
- Best practices for picking individual typefaces
- How to effectively combine different font families
- How to deal with on-screen text rendering issues, and why Windows is especially troublesome
- Get Inspired: Tips on where to find typographic inspiration and detailed references
Web Typography Best Practices Part 1: Choosing Fonts
September 7, 2011
11:00 AM Pacific / 2:00 PM Eastern
Duration: 1 hour, incl. Q&A
Registering for Part 1 will also register you (with no obligation) for the next two Web Typography Best Practices sessions:
Register once for all three webcasts
A recorded webcast will be emailed to you if you register but can’t attend.
Part 2: Setting Type for Web Sites
September 21, 2011 at 11:00 AM Pacific / 2:00 PM Eastern
Part 3: OpenType Typography, The New Frontier
October 5, 2011 at 11:00 AM Pacific / 2:00 PM Eastern
Tell us what you most hope to learn: New to Web fonts and want to know how to get started? Or, experienced designer looking to take your type knowledge to the Web? Submit your question when you register.
