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Nice idea. However, is doing this client-side with javascript really the best approach? Surely a server-side solution to fix the html before sent to the client would be better.

I get that its very usable from the designer's point of view. They can just drop a little script like this into their document and forget about it, but after the umpteenth little script like this, won't performance become an issue?

My other issue is that until we get decent rendering across the board, anything with @font-face such as this is just infuriating to read. Whilst my browser of choice (Opera) is one of the more niche ones that people might not care about, a recent thread here on HN mentioned that Chrome on Windows also suffers from the chipped away look with @font-face - meaning a lot more people are exposed to this annoyance.

However, is doing this client-side with javascript really the best approach?

I think it's appropriate, since it's a rendering issue. In the future, the JS can check whether the browser renders things properly, and just skip the whole process.

Do we really need ligatures? As I understand, they originated in the days when it was difficult to mechanically put an "f"-block and an "i"-block close together. Do we have to emulate this in environments where we don't have these constraints?
Even with digital fonts, there are situations where certain character combinations, such as “ffi” touch/overlap each other. Ligatures are a special-case letterform for these situations that blends them more harmonically
Nobody has to, but there's no harm in a little skeumorphism here and there for aesthetic reasons. We have a big walk-in fireproof safe in our office that long ago had the locking mechanisms removed, but the dial and lever are still in place on the door because it looks cool.
I've gotten by fine without them, but designers and typography experts say they are easier to read, and a must-have for serious typography. So yes, we need them.
Yes we do.
I was very impressed with this post until I went to the "opentypography.org" site and tried to read the opening paragraph. The font was a nice size and beautifully laid out. It was also a light grey color that (in my opinion) seriously compromised its readability because of its lack of contrast. Having beautiful typography is a worthy goal; I'm just waiting for every site to have satisfactory readability.

(And, yes, I do know about the Readability bookmarklet. I'm just hoping that some day I won't need it.)

Wrong way for a right course.

It is sad that browsers are not taking typography seriously.

This looks to be an encouraging step in the right direction: http://ie.microsoft.com/testdrive/Graphics/opentype/opentype...