Text replacement or not

[efingo]

In my new portfolio I have big typography and of course I thought about using a script for text replacement since not everyone have installed the font I used.

Now I'm not satisfied with this idea because still there will be differences - see how Fox display the text and how IE6 do it. I want the big text to look exactly like in Photoshop - smooth and clear.

For this I thought about using gif and/or png images instead of text. YES I know it's a bad idea for the search engines BUT what if in HTML i write the text and hide it with the CSS text-indent: -999999px; ?

So the text will be in the code but in browser you'll see gif or png images.
Is it a good idea?

[SineQuaNon]

One other option would be to use a SWF that has the font embedded and then dynamically insert your text. I'm not sure if this is SEO-friendly, but I suspect not. Another option would be to adopt the CSS3 @font-face. This isn't widely supported yet, so you'd still run into the same problems. You can find out more here: Web fonts with @font-face - CSS3 . Info

Personally, I'd opt for the text replacement script and/or change your design. :)

[efingo]

Aha I see so I should go with the script.

Change the design for such a matter - NEVER
Thank you for reply!

[Harry]

If you are going to use image replacement don't use the -9999px method, use this: mezzoblue Testing Grounds

[Scriptage]

One other option would be to use a SWF that has the font embedded and then dynamically insert your text. I'm not sure if this is SEO-friendly, but I suspect not. Another option would be to adopt the CSS3 @font-face. This isn't widely supported yet, so you'd still run into the same problems. You can find out more here: Web fonts with @font-face - CSS3 . Info

Personally, I'd opt for the text replacement script and/or change your design. :)

sIFR would be fine, although Harry's suggestion would work in more cases.