Daniel
Eden
Daniel Eden is currently at Dropbox in San Francisco, CA. His skills include design, development, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP and Git/Version Control. You may recognize one of his more well known projects, Animate.css, which is used by Hipstamatic, Foursquare and many other instances. Eden was also a finalist for .net Magazine’s “Brilliant Newcomer of The Year” award.
Notable Projects
Mac or PC? I use a Mac.
In your opinion, what is the best browser for web fonts? In my experience, Firefox has flaunted the best support for web fonts, especially OpenType features. That’s changing, though, and Safari remains my browser of choice.
What makes you cringe when looking at type on the web? Mostly inconsistencies in typesetting and misunderstanding in typography. Long line lengths, tall or shrunken line-heights, and oversized text are the usual offenders. Also, it’s a small thing, but I can’t help but cringe a little when “dumb” quotes and apostrophes are used in place of curly quotes. Basic understanding of type seems to be missing from a lot of web designers’ tool kits.
What is one thing you would like other web and graphic designers to know about web fonts? Optimization is a key theme I think a lot of web designers forget about when using web fonts. It’s also often forgotten that we should see how our sites look when fonts fail to load, etc.
How are webfonts contributing to brand development on multi media devices? Web fonts mean that established brands can have some brand consistency between web and print. Many popular fonts are becoming available for use on the web, which is great!
What makes a great webfont worth purchasing? For me, it’s ligatures, true small caps, and multiple numeral options (lining, table, and old-style) that make a font worth buying.
Do you know what hinting is, if so, in your words what does hinting do? As far as I’m concerned, hinting is the aligning of type to the pixel grid, making it appear better at various sizes. This can either be done manually or by automation.
How much coffee do you consume on a daily basis? It varies, but I’d say an average of 2–3 cups a day.