Monotype Imaging Holdings has announced a new cloud-based technology that allows support for OpenType features in all popular browsers that support Web fonts and HTML5.
Available to all subscribers of Monotype’s Fonts.com Web Fonts service, the capability enables Web designers to use discretionary ligatures, small caps, fractions and other typographic features available in OpenType fonts, regardless of whether full, native support for OpenType features is available through the browser.
Using Monotype’s new solution, Web designers are able to use standard CSS techniques for controlling OpenType features, while relying on Fonts.com Web Fonts to ensure that pages render properly, as intended, regardless of the browser the visitor is using. When working on their Fonts.com Web Fonts project, users can use the OpenType feature control to activate individual OpenType features.
Web designers are able to see which OpenType features are available in a selected font and which features are being used in selected text. Monotype plans to release hundreds of additional Web fonts containing OpenType features this year while enhancing the OpenType feature tool to provide greater control to designers for specifying when and which OpenType features are applied to a selection of text.
A detailed FAQ is available on how to use the new technology at http://www.fonts.com/support/faq/opentype-features-tab .