No updates on this for four years
I know that there has already been questions about this before, but I wanted to bring it back up as it seems to not have been discussed since 2018, and I think it should be a more relevant topic.
Where it is now
As it is right now, the only font export option is .otf, and although .otf is a great versatile font type that can easily be converted to all relevant webfont types (.ttf, .woff, .woff2, .eot), with online tools, it would be so incredibly helpful if this was built into fontself. The main reason being that fonts can be complicated. To create a great variable font, there has to be versions for weights 100 to 900 (thin, extra light, light, regular, medium, semi-bold, bold, extra-bold, heavy, black), all with italic versions. That’s a total of 18 versions of one font. To convert all 18 versions into all four additional webfont types… that’s 72 conversions.
What can help
Yes, a generator like Font Squirrel is nice, because at least it lets you convert all 18 .otf versions into .ttf, .woff, .woff2, and .eot (and even .svg which isn’t as relevant), at once, but even then, it’s a lot of waiting after creating a font, and exporting with fontself. It would be nice to eliminate that last step.
Why it’s important
This batch saving with all of the needed webfont file types would be incredible for designers and developers alike.
Designers
As a designer, if I want to offer my font to others (for profit or not), it’s best to be able to offer all file types for their various uses. It’s also important so that, if I use a system that allows users to test the font with their own verbiage, they can test it out before downloading it.
Developers
As a developer, if I want to use the font I created (or downloaded from someone else), I need all five relevant webfont file types (.otf, .ttf, .woff, .woff2, .eot) for browser compatibility. If I only have .otf, at least I can convert it, but—as previously stated—it’s an extra step that can be quite time consuming.
Take your time
I totally understand this wouldn’t be at the top of your list for making your extension better, and it can take a long time to get to—not to mention actually coding it in. I just bring it up, because if it’s not on your list of todos, I would really love it added on there.
Additional feature
This has also been brought up before—and it’s far less necessary, as I know only developers care for it, and any developer can easily create one—but a pre-made CSS stylesheet would be helpful, once again, eliminating a step. Although it’s easy to do manually, it’s always so tedious, and I know developers that use fontself would love this feature. Not to mention, it’s an added benefit to designers that sell their fonts, since they can include the CSS for developers that purchase it, as an added benefit.