Core fonts for the Web

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Core fonts for the Web was a project begun by Microsoft in 1996 to make a standard pack of fonts for the Internet. The fonts were designed to:

Be highly legible on screen;
Offer a wide range of typographic “timbres” within a small number of typefaces; and
Support extensive internationalisation.

These design goals and the fonts' broad availability have made them extremely popular with web designers.

While the program has formally ended, the benefits of using broadly available fonts remain; hence, in addition to the original core fonts, newer fonts packaged with Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office increasingly form a new canon of core fonts. Broader web browser adoption of the web fonts specification may ultimately render the notion of core fonts obsolete by allowing the real-time downloading and display of specific fonts.

Program termination and software licence agreement issues

The project was terminated in August 2002, allegedly due to frequent EULA violations. A Microsoft's spokesman declared in 2002 that "Microsoft has also found that the downloads were being abused - repackaged, modified and shipped with commercial products in violation of the EULA." "Most users who wanted the fonts have downloaded them already."¹²³ However, that same EULA allows redistribution if the packages are kept in their original format (.exe or .sit.hqx) and original filenames (e.g. times32.exe) and not used to add value to commercial products.⁴⁵ As a result, they are still available for download on third-party websites, though the EULA in question is not.

The EULA referenced below also requires⁶ that a copy be applied to transferees, but no EULA is directly on (for example) the Sourceforge "corefonts" download page at the time of writing, so the legal status of such downloads is questionable. However, a copy of the EULA is obtainable via the FAQ maintained on Microsoft's typography website and from some other third-party websites.⁴⁵⁷

For Windows, the fonts are provided as self-extracting executables (.exe); each includes an embedded cabinet file that contains a font file in TrueType format (.ttf). For the Macintosh, the files are provided as BinHexed Stuff-It archives (.sit.hqx). It is not allowed to rename, edit or create any derivative works from the executables (e.g. arial32.exe) or archives (Arial.sit.hqx), other than subsetting when embedding them in documents.⁴⁵ The fonts can be used on non-Windows or non-Macintosh operating systems, so long as they are distributed in original form (original .exe files or .sit.hqx files) and with original name (e.g. arial32.exe). A cabinet file can be extracted with an appropriate software, if such a software is available.

The latest fonts versions that were available from Microsoft's Core fonts for the Web project were 2.x (e.g. 2.82 for Arial, Times New Roman and Courier New for MS Windows⁸), published in 2000. Later versions (such as version 3 or version 5 with many new characters) were not available from this project. A Microsoft's spokesman declared in 2002 that members of the open source community "will have to find different sources for updated fonts". "Although the EULA did not restrict the fonts to just Windows and Mac OS they were only ever available as Windows .exe's and Mac archive files."'¹

Even though the fonts are available from some third-party web sites (such as an anonymous SourceForge project) and are included with Mac OS, Håkon Wium Lie (Chief technical officer of Opera Software) cited the cancellation of the project as an example of Microsoft resisting interoperability.⁹

In July 2007, Apple announced that it had renewed its licensing agreement with Microsoft for these fonts.¹⁰

Files

The TrueType core fonts for the Web project included the following files:⁸¹¹

Filename	Name	Latest font's version available from Microsoft's Core fonts for the Web project	License
arial32.exe	Arial for Windows 9x, NT and Windows 2000	version 2.82	Proprietary software, Freeware
Arial.sit.hqx	Arial for Apple Mac OS	version 2.90	Proprietary software, Freeware
arialb32.exe	Arial Black for Windows 9x, NT and Windows 2000	version 2.35	Proprietary software, Freeware
ariblk.exe	Arial Black for Windows 3.1 and 3.11	version 2.20	Proprietary software, Freeware
ArialBlack.sit.hqx	Arial Black for Apple Mac OS	version 2.35	Proprietary software, Freeware
courie32.exe	Courier New for Windows 9x, NT and Windows 2000	version 2.82	Proprietary software, Freeware
CourierNew.sit.hqx	Courier New for Apple Mac OS	version 2.61	Proprietary software, Freeware
times32.exe	Times New Roman for Windows 9x, NT and Windows 2000	version 2.82	Proprietary software, Freeware
TimesNew.sit.hqx	Times New Roman for Apple Mac OS	version 2.91	Proprietary software, Freeware
impact32.exe	Impact for Windows 9x, NT and Windows 2000	version 2.35	Proprietary software, Freeware
impact.exe	Impact for Windows 3.1 and 3.11	version 2.20	Proprietary software, Freeware
Impact.sit.hqx	Impact for Apple Mac OS	version 2.35	Proprietary software, Freeware
comic32.exe	Comic Sans MS for Windows 9x, NT and Windows 2000	version 2.10	Proprietary software, Freeware
comic.exe	Comic Sans MS for Windows 3.1 and 3.11	version 1.20	Proprietary software, Freeware
ComicSans.sit.hqx	Comic Sans MS for Apple Mac OS	version 2.10	Proprietary software, Freeware
verdan32.exe	Verdana for Windows 9x, NT and Windows 2000	version 2.35	Proprietary software, Freeware
verdana.exe	Verdana for Windows 3.1 and 3.11	version 1.01	Proprietary software, Freeware
Verdana.sit.hqx	Verdana for Apple Mac OS	version 2.35	Proprietary software, Freeware
georgi32.exe	Georgia for Windows 9x, NT and Windows 2000	version 2.05	Proprietary software, Freeware
georgia.exe	Georgia for Windows 3.1 and 3.11	version 1.00	Proprietary software, Freeware
Georgia.sit.hqx	Georgia for Apple Mac OS	version 2.05	Proprietary software, Freeware
trebuc32.exe	Trebuchet MS for Windows 9x, NT and Windows 2000	version 1.22	Proprietary software, Freeware
trebuc.exe	Trebuchet MS for Windows 3.1 and 3.11	version 1.00	Proprietary software, Freeware
Trebuchet.sit.hqx	Trebuchet MS for Apple Mac OS	version 1.15	Proprietary software, Freeware
webdin32.exe	Webdings for Windows 9x, NT and Windows 2000	version 1.03	Proprietary software, Freeware
webdings.exe	Webdings for Windows 3.1 and 3.11	version 1.01	Proprietary software, Freeware
andale32.exe	Andale Mono for Windows 9x, NT and Windows 2000	version 2.00	Proprietary software, Freeware
mtcom.exe	Monotype.com for Windows 3.1 and 3.11	version 1.10	Proprietary software, Freeware
andalemono.sit.hqx	Andale for Apple Mac OS	version 2.00	Proprietary software, Freeware

Included fonts

Andale Mono	Arial and Arial Black	Comic Sans MS	Courier New
Georgia	Impact	Times New Roman	Trebuchet MS
Verdana	Webdings

Successors

In Windows Vista and Microsoft Office 2007, Microsoft introduced ClearType Font Collection, which consists of 6 font families: Calibri, Cambria, Candara, Consolas, Constantia, Corbel. Version 1 of the fonts can be found in Microsoft's free Office 2007 viewers and converters, while version 5.00 of the fonts are shipped with Vista.

Cariadings, the only Symbol encoded font in the ClearType Font Collection, was initially announced to be available with Vista,¹² but is unavailable in the final Vista release.¹³ The font is available commercially from Ascender for $20.

References

^ ^a ^b Mark Hachman (2002-08-14). "Microsoft Withdraws Free Web Fonts". ExtremeTech. http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,469394,00.asp. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
^ Jesse Burgheimer (2002-08-13). "Microsoft Cuts the Line to Web Core Fonts". archive.org. http://web.archive.org/web/20080111153435/http://typographica.org/000270.php. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
^ "Microsoft Cuts the Line to Web Core Fonts". 2002-08-13. http://typographica.org/000270.php. Retrieved 2008-08-04. ^{dead link}
^ ^a ^b ^c Microsoft. "Core fonts for the Web - END-USER LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR MICROSOFT SOFTWARE". http://corefonts.sourceforge.net/eula.htm. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
^ ^a ^b ^c Microsoft (2001-12-28). "TrueType core fonts for the Web EULA". http://www.microsoft.com/typography/fontpack/eula.htm. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
^ From the font EULA: Reproduction and Distribution. You may reproduce and distribute an unlimited number of copies of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT; provided that each copy shall be a true and complete copy, including all copyright and trademark notices, and shall be accompanied by a copy of this EULA. Copies of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT may not be distributed for profit either on a standalone basis or included as part of your own product.
^ Microsoft (2002-07-25). "TrueType core fonts for the Web FAQ". http://www.microsoft.com/typography/faq/faq8.htm. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
^ ^a ^b Microsoft (2001-12-26). "TrueType core fonts for the Web". http://web.archive.org/web/20020802111427/http://www.microsoft.com/typography/fontpack/default.htm. Retrieved 2010-07-06.
^ "Opera to MS: Get real about interoperability, Mr Gates - Opera CTO Hakon Lie responds to Bill's clarion call". 2005-02-11. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/02/11/hakon_on_ms_interroperability/. Retrieved 2010-07-02.
^ Mac users’ Internet experience to remain "seamless" thanks to Microsoft - MAC.BLORGE.com
^ Microsoft (1999-01-15). "TrueType core fonts for the Web". http://web.archive.org/web/19990117061153/http://www.microsoft.com/typography/fontpack/default.htm. Retrieved 2010-07-06.
^ Microsoft Design Center - Community News
^ Where’s the Windings replacement “Cariadings”? - istartedsomething

External links

Core fonts download page on Sourceforge
Former Core fonts for the Web homepage (Courtesy of the Internet Archive)
Current Core fonts for the Web home page, which no longer provides the fonts themselves.
Microsoft's TrueType core fonts for Mac and Windows (contains a copy of the EULA, the FAQ, and all the font packages)
Microsoft's TrueType core fonts for Linux (contains a copy of the EULA, the FAQ, and all the font packages)
An Initiative started by Andrei Herasimchuk, sends an Open Letter to Adobe in order to improve Web-Typography. Also Designer Jeff Croft proposes the new Windows Vista Typefaces made available in an Open Letter to Apple and Microsoft
Web Design is 95% Typography (Part 1) and (Part 2) — Two articles on web design and typography that caused controversy.
ClearType Font Collection
Typeface Descriptions & Histories
History/Trends of Web Fonts (1994-2008)

[extremetech-0] Mark Hachman (2002-08-14). "Microsoft Withdraws Free Web Fonts". ExtremeTech. http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,469394,00.asp. Retrieved 2010-04-13.

[1] Jesse Burgheimer (2002-08-13). "Microsoft Cuts the Line to Web Core Fonts". archive.org. http://web.archive.org/web/20080111153435/http://typographica.org/000270.php. Retrieved 2010-04-13.

[2] "Microsoft Cuts the Line to Web Core Fonts". 2002-08-13. http://typographica.org/000270.php. Retrieved 2008-08-04. ^{dead link}

[eula-corefonts-3] Microsoft. "Core fonts for the Web - END-USER LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR MICROSOFT SOFTWARE". http://corefonts.sourceforge.net/eula.htm. Retrieved 2010-04-13.

[eula-4] Microsoft (2001-12-28). "TrueType core fonts for the Web EULA". http://www.microsoft.com/typography/fontpack/eula.htm. Retrieved 2010-04-13.

[5] From the font EULA: Reproduction and Distribution. You may reproduce and distribute an unlimited number of copies of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT; provided that each copy shall be a true and complete copy, including all copyright and trademark notices, and shall be accompanied by a copy of this EULA. Copies of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT may not be distributed for profit either on a standalone basis or included as part of your own product.

[6] Microsoft (2002-07-25). "TrueType core fonts for the Web FAQ". http://www.microsoft.com/typography/faq/faq8.htm. Retrieved 2010-04-13.

[fontpack-2002-08-7] Microsoft (2001-12-26). "TrueType core fonts for the Web". http://web.archive.org/web/20020802111427/http://www.microsoft.com/typography/fontpack/default.htm. Retrieved 2010-07-06.

[8] "Opera to MS: Get real about interoperability, Mr Gates - Opera CTO Hakon Lie responds to Bill's clarion call". 2005-02-11. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/02/11/hakon_on_ms_interroperability/. Retrieved 2010-07-02.

[9] Mac users’ Internet experience to remain "seamless" thanks to Microsoft - MAC.BLORGE.com

[fontpack-1999-10] Microsoft (1999-01-15). "TrueType core fonts for the Web". http://web.archive.org/web/19990117061153/http://www.microsoft.com/typography/fontpack/default.htm. Retrieved 2010-07-06.

[11] Microsoft Design Center - Community News

[12] Where’s the Windings replacement “Cariadings”? - istartedsomething

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