The announcement came last week from Adam Langley on Google's Chromium "Issues" reporting site, where he stated that Chromium (the technology behind Google's Chrome browsing software and other projects), will support WOFF, the Web Open Font Format.
WOFF allows browsing software to automatically download and install custom fonts in the background, allowing for greater creative freedom on the part of web designers, with fonts that are not used or accessible by other applications and do not become part of the user's available fonts.
Mozilla, Microsoft and Opera, among others, also support the drive to implement this standardized means of handling enhanced web typography, which is still under active development.
Chromium's implementation, Langley says, will convert WOFF fonts to TrueType fonts for use by the browser internally — a step needed to minimize WebKit modifications and other interim compatibility issues.
No release date was given.
