Web Open Fonts

The fonts that use a format called WOFF (Web Open Font Format) may be called web open fonts. WOFF is a wrapper for both the OpenType and the TrueType fonts. In other words, WOFF is a compressed container format for OpenType and TrueType fonts designed specifically for use on the web.

If you wish to convert (wrap) your TrueType or OpenType fonts to web open fonts, you'll need the sfnt2woff utility.

WOFF is a font file format designed specifically for use on the web, which lets web developers use custom fonts that are not commonly available on users' devices.

The first version of WOFF (Web Open Font Format) was developed in the year 2009.

It was developed as a collaboration between Mozilla, Microsoft, and Opera Software to address the need for a standardized format for web fonts. WOFF files typically have the extension ".woff" and have become widely supported by modern web browsers.

The newer version, WOFF2, provides significantly better compression and is now supported by all modern browsers.

For 'Frequently Asked Questions' on Web Open Fonts, like What is WOFF? Click here.

Check Your Browsers

We have wrapped our main font 'Akhil HE' in a WOFF2 wrapper for this web-page.

This web-page contains text of a complex script (देवनागरी) rendered using our web open font. Please load this page (that you are reading now) in different browsers to compare and test their capabilities in handling the aforementioned font.

Ideally, every browser should display (render) all the text (English as well as Sanskrit) on this page using our font 'Akhil HE'.

Modern browsers enforce a same-origin policy for web fonts. Therefore WOFF files are normally expected to be served from the same domain as the web page unless the server explicitly allows cross-origin access (CORS). Again, the server that hosts the fonts can override this limitation!

ॐ भूर्भुवः॒ स्वः॒

तत्स॑वितुर्वरे॑ण्यम् भ॒र्गो॑ दे॒वस्य॑ धीमहि। धियो॒ यो नः॑ प्रचो॒दया॑त्॥

ॐ भूर्भुवः॒ स्वः॒ तत्स॑वितुर्वरे॑ण्यम् भ॒र्गो॑ दे॒वस्य॑ धीमहि। धियो॒ यो नः॑ प्रचो॒दया॑त्॥

Sometimes English text is displayed using the browser's default font, which is not cool! Some browsers automatically increase the size of DevaNagari script to (mis)match Latin (Roman) characters. Matching the sizes of various scripts should be left to the font designer (typographer) or web page designer. So the rendering by our font, which has proper matching of both scripts, used to suffer in the past.

ॐ Om भूर्भुवः॒ bhoorbhuvaH॒ स्वः॒ svaH॒ ।
तत्स॑वितुर्वरे॑ण्यम् tatsa॑viturvare॑NNyam भ॒र्गो॑ bha॒rgo॑ दे॒वस्य॑ de॒vasya॑ धीमहि dheemahi ।
धियो॒ dhiyo॒ यो yo नः॑ naH॑ प्रचो॒दया॑त् pracho॒dayaa॑t ॥

We have put the above Nagari text in an embedded PDF file (generated by OpenOffice/LibreOffice) so that you can see text composed using our font! PDF renderer may not be using delta hints from our font and text may not be clear at small point sizes.

Check the following PNG image for the correct rendering of the Nagari text using our font.

Using Devanagari Fonts on Websites

This page demonstrates how a Devanagari web font (WOFF2) can render complex Indic scripts correctly in modern browsers. Developers working with Hindi, Sanskrit or other Devanagari-based languages can use this test page to verify browser compatibility.

The Akhil HE font used on this page is loaded using the CSS @font-face rule and delivered in the WOFF2 format. If your browser supports WOFF2 correctly, both the Latin and Devanagari text on this page should render using the Akhil HE font.

The Akhil HE font was designed as a bilingual text font where Latin and Devanagari scripts are typographically balanced so that both scripts can appear together harmoniously in the same paragraph.

Buy a License of 'Akhil HE'

If you use either Windows, Linux, Android, or a modern OS-X click the following button to pay for this smart font in currencies like US Dollars using credit card or PayPal-A/c.

If you want to pay via a bank / wire transfer or a demand draft in rupees (INR; ₹), click the following button to obtain our A/c info.

[The 'single user license' permits you to install 'Akhil HE' (or 'Akhil ME') on a single PC, Laptop or HandHeld Device (like Mobile) that you use. You can typeset and print documents using this font. You can give the printed documents (hard copy) to others.]

Following image shows some Hindi English text typeset (composed) as Vector Graphics (.svg file) using Akhil HE in LibreOffice. You may like to enlarge this graphics to appreciate it.

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