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Enable TTF file uploads on Wikimedia projects (font uploading)
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Description

Author: rememberthedot

Description:
Please enable TTF file uploads on Wikimedia projects. This will allow us to more easily embed necessary fonts via CSS so that we can better support languages that use unusual characters. TTF font embedding is supported in Safari 3, Firefox 3.5, and Opera 10. We can do font embedding already with data URIs, but it's pretty ugly and reduces performance. Enabling binary TTF uploads would be much nicer.


Version: unspecified
Severity: enhancement

Details

Reference
bz18692

Event Timeline

bzimport raised the priority of this task from to Low.Nov 21 2014, 10:32 PM
bzimport set Reference to bz18692.
bzimport added a subscriber: Unknown Object (MLST).

neuro.wikipedia wrote:

I cannot imagine that this would be an oft used filetype (or at least, it should not be). If font embedding is required on the more obscure of projects (presumably where the defaults do not suffice), there should be another way to do it than by simply enabling TTF uploads, which could be problematic not only because it would almost never be used, but also if it *was* used it would overcomplicate things for all Wikimedia projects. At the moment we simply don't have scenarios on Wikimedia wikis where (aside from through editing) usergroups can perform actions which they shouldn't be able to - that's the job the software. Enabling TTF uploads across the board seems like a step which should not be taken lightly, or at least, not without a way to make sure that only the TTF files which are /needed/ for the wiki to operate properly can be uploaded. I just don't want this to become the situation we currently have with PDFs (at least on enwiki).

ayg wrote:

Note that for web font support, EOT should also be considered, since IE only supports that at present.

rememberthedot wrote:

Enabling TTF uploads across the board seems like a step which should
not be taken lightly, or at least, not without a way to make sure that only the
TTF files which are /needed/ for the wiki to operate properly can be uploaded.

"Needed" is such a subjective term. Users may wish to use gadgets to add extra font support when browsing from public computers with poor font support. Or, a wiki may decide to standardize on one font even if some of their users already have another one that would work. That decision should be left up to local site admins, not forced by MediaWiki.

I just don't want this to become the situation we currently have with PDFs (at
least on enwiki).

TTF uploads will be rare because few will know how to use them. We can categorize and police the few TTF uploads that we do get.

The fonts should be installed at the servers, if possible, using a well-known package
so that it can be easily replicated (also see bug 8898).
The font folder would then be made available at the web path with the proper
HTTP_access_control headers.
Using a FOSS package would nearly eliminate all the license risks.

(Will all desired fonts be packaged?)

Adding a comment with the word WOFF, which is the name of a modern related standard, to make this bug easier to find.

(In reply to comment #6)

This is addressed using the WebFonts extension-
http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:WebFonts

The original request (comment 0) was "please enable TTF file uploads on Wikimedia projects". An experimental extension that isn't installed on any Wikimedia wikis doesn't seem to resolve this bug. Re-opening.

SVG font files should upload to Wikimedia projects, use script conversion svg to eof, woff etc.

(In reply to comment #7)

The original request (comment 0) was "please enable TTF file uploads on
Wikimedia projects". An experimental extension that isn't installed on any
Wikimedia wikis doesn't seem to resolve this bug. Re-opening.

Can we mark it closed? The extension is enabled in several Wikimeida wikis.