three most common ways in which text is sent to the user: HTML, images
and sIFR. Each of these methods has an ideal use that, when properly
implemented, can dramatically increase legibility and thus the overall user
experience.
HTML Text
HTML text undoubtedly accounts for the majority of text found on the web.
Until recently, designers had absolutely no control over anti-aliasing with
client-side technologies. CSS 3 introduces two new ways to control how
HTML text is delivered: font-smooth and @font-face.
font-smooth
Font-smooth allows you to control when smoothing is used but not how
it՚s used; the anti-aliasing method is still controlled by the user՚s
environment. This setting is not widely supported yet but may prove useful
by allowing us to turn anti-aliasing off at small point sizes — where type
often becomes blurry. It may become doubly useful when more complex
and non-browser-safe fonts are embedded with the new @font-face rule.
@font-face
The @font-face rule is an exciting new feature of CSS 3 that designers have
been waiting years for. Although we՚ve been able to add obscure typefaces
to font stacks for quite some time, a large majority of users don՚t have
high-end fonts on their local machines and end up with a typical Web-safe
font (e.g. Times New Roman substituted for Adobe Garamond Pro).
By allowing the browser to import a font file from a URL, we can now serve
the user any font we՚d like without relying on their font library. This means
that we can serve not only more unique fonts but also those that are better
hinted and more legible.