Canonical and the Ubuntu project release the Ubuntu Font Family for the web

http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/news.html?d=209619


Canonical and the Ubuntu project say Happy Holidays with the Ubuntu Font Family 
released for the web

London, 21 Dec 2010: Google and the Ubuntu project have today released the 
Ubuntu Font Family to the world through the Google Font Directory.  Through the 
magic of the Google Font API any web designer can now pick Ubuntu from the 
Google Font Directoryand bring the beauty and legibility of the Ubuntu fonts to 
their web properties. 


Using Ubuntu as a web font means that visitors will always see the text and 
fonts as intended, when viewing in a web browser such as Chrome, Firefox, 
Internet Explorer, Opera or Safari-even if the font is not installed on the 
visitor's computer. The new Ubuntu Font Family debuted in the current Ubuntu 
10.10 release of the Ubuntu operating system and is also available for download 
from font.ubuntu.com. 


The Ubuntu Font Family are a set of new fonts in development throughout 
2010?2011.  The development is being funded by Canonical Ltdon behalf the wider 
Free Software community and the Ubuntu project, with the skilled font work being 
undertaken by Dalton Maag.  Like everything else in Ubuntu, the fonts are free 
to use and legal to share, sell, bundle and build upon. The included "source 
code" allows remixing, improvement and expansion by anyone with the skills or an 
interest.  This release includes Latin, Cyrillic and Greek support, and future 
versions will be automatically rolled out to everyone using the Google Font API. 
The main www.ubuntu.comsite features the fonts from today.  

Mark Shuttleworth, founder of the Ubuntu project, commented: "Our focus on 
design and usability in Ubuntu led us to create a font which is at once 
beautiful and readable. We're delighted to share the Ubuntu Font Family with web 
designers around the world who want their websites to be stylish and readable in 
as many languages and browsers as possible. The publication of the Ubuntu font 
on the global Google Font Directory is an appropriate treat for the festive 
season, and we wish all those who contribute to, and enjoy the benefits of, free 
software and open content a very happy and healthy solstice and New Year."

Bruno Maag of the Dalton Maag type foundry, who have been working with Canonical 
on the design and technical implementation of the typeface commented, "It is 
unique in our company's history to work on such a comprehensive high-quality 
font and to have it given to the World to use for free. The creativity and 
expertise that is available in the open source world, in particular the insight 
into language and script requirements, ensures that the fonts are a useful tool 
for everyone. The right font used correctly can increase accessibility to 
information and increase productivity.  With today's gift, we expect to see 
widespread adoption of the Ubuntu fonts from today, as it combines design at its 
best with simple distribution through the Google Font API."

Raph Levien from the Google Font API team added, "Google is excited to be 
providing such a high-quality font to the world, with all of the benefits of web 
fonts including amazing searchability and accessibility. Web fonts demonstrate 
the true power of the web, as web pages can be translated and still preserve a 
rich visual presentation - something not possible with any other technology, 
especially baking text into images. As the language coverage increases 
throughout 2011, users will automatically get those improvements, and the 
performance and reliability they can expect from Google. I hope that people have 
fun over the holidays adding the Ubuntu web fonts to their sites!"

How to add the Ubuntu Font Family: 
http://code.google.com/webfonts(Select "Ubuntu" and insert the two lines of CSS 
provided)
http://font.ubuntu.com/ (Complete open-source font download). 


Notes for editors

About Google Font API and Font Directory:TheGoogle Font APIserves over 30 
million font views for web pages per day. The Google Web Fonts Team is 
establishing a core set of web fonts and simple to use technology that can be 
used openly across devices and platforms.  Using a Google web font is as simple 
selecting it from the directory and copying a few lines into a web page.  Visit: 
code.google.com/webfonts

About Canonical Ltd:Canonical provides engineering, online and professional 
services to Ubuntu partners and customers worldwide. As the company behind the 
Ubuntu project, Canonical is committed to the production and support of Ubuntu ? 
an ever-popular and fast-growing open-source operating system. It aims to ensure 
that Ubuntu is available to every organisation and individual on servers, 
desktops, laptops and netbooks.

Canonical partners with computer hardware manufacturers to certify Ubuntu, 
provides migration, deployment, support and training services to businesses, and 
offers online services direct to end users. Canonical also builds and maintains 
collaborative, open-source development tools to ensure that organisations and 
individuals can participate fully in innovations within the open-source 
community. For more information, please visitwww.canonical.com

About Dalton Maag:Dalton Maag is one of the world's most notable contemporary 
font foundries, specialising in custom and corporate typefaces for companies 
such as Canonical, BMW, Vodafone, Bang & Olufsenand Virgin Galactic.  Over their 
careers, Dalton Maag's staff have been responsible for some of the most world's 
most recognisable digital fonts.  Designers include Ron Carpenter who worked for 
many years at Monotype, and Vincent Connare who designed Comic Sans during his 
time at Microsoft.  Visit: www.daltonmaag.com