Variable Fonts v0.2
A simple resource for finding and trying variable fontsAbout this site
Mission
This site’s goal is to help designers and developers become more familiar with OpenType variable fonts in a way that isn’t overwhelming, while also providing straightforward info upfront about the font projects, who made them, and where to find more info or get the fonts to use. While there is no promise to maintain an exhaustive universal listing, most publicly available variable fonts are documented on the site (at least for now). Private experiments or other variable font projects that aren’t easily accessible to the general public are not the focus of the site.
Status, limitations, and plans
The site is currently presented in a limited beta version. As a showcase of variable fonts, it requires a web browser that supports OpenType font variation technology. Development is currently under way to introduce additional functionality for advanced filtering and searching content, inspecting named instance presets in variable fonts, simple code snippets for implementation, and other resources to help designers and developers use variable fonts in their own projects.
A brief summary of changes to the site is available in the changelog.
Credits
The site is a HEX project – designed, edited, and maintained by Nick Sherman. It has received support from Adobe in the past. Piper Haywood contributed significantly with technical assistance for the most recent updates to the site. Chris Lewis helped with the basic interactivity of the interface. David Jonathan Ross has assisted with technical issues related to font data and production. Regardless of those relationships, the content of the site remains independent.
The primary typeface used on the site is Zeitung from Underware, served in a variable font format.
The site was a lot easier to make thanks to ExpressionEngine, Wakamai Fondue, Axis-Praxis, Homebrew web font tools, Indra Kupferschmid’s spreadsheet of variable fonts, range.css, Fontview, and Robofont.
Contact
For feedback and suggestions, email nick@hex.xyz or send a message to @variablefonts on Twitter.