Why does one of these font-face render in IE8, but the others don't?

Question

Why does this fontface render in IE8:

@font-face {
  font-family: 'Aller';
  src: url('aller_rg-webfont.eot');
  src: url('aller_rg-webfont.eot?#iefix') format('embedded-opentype'),
       url('aller_rg-webfont.woff') format('woff'),
       url('aller_rg-webfont.ttf') format('truetype'),
       url('aller_rg-webfont.svg#AllerRegular') format('svg');
  font-weight: normal;
  font-style: normal;
}

And this does not:

@font-face {
  font-family: 'Champagne';
  src: url('champreg-webfont.eot');
  src: url('champreg-webfont.eot?#iefix') format('embedded-opentype'),
       url('champreg-webfont.woff') format('woff'),
       url('champreg-webfont.ttf') format('truetype'),
       url('champreg-webfont.svg#Champagne&LimousinesRegular') format('svg');
  font-weight: normal;
  font-style: normal;
}

I really can't figure it out. All other browsers work fine, obviously.

Solution

Try creating a new .eot file with one of the others using an online woff/ttf/svg to eot convertor.

• http://www.font2web.com/
• http://www.fontsquirrel.com/fontface/generator <- might have problems because they black list font names.

If this new file doesn't work, then it might be a problem with the font itself. Sometimes IE6-8 has a fit if the Fontname and Family Name are not the same within the actual font file. To fix it:

• You'll need to download FontForge
• Open up the font
• From the menu, choose Element > Font Info
• Ensure the Fontname, Family Name and Name for Humans are all the same
• Save the font as a TTF or OTF and use an online convertor to spit out an EOT file.

Every issue I've had with font-face - if the CSS was correct - worked with one of the above two solutions, so good luck :-) Maybe even try saving the font without any changes in FontForge and converting that online before you fiddle with the name properties.

Comments

[djwd]

Wow...renaming the font info via FontForge actually worked! Learnt something today, thank you Patrick

[Christof]

This not only solved my IE9 problem (it was working, but logging an error in the console), but it also got it working for IE8. A hug thanks!

[Christina]

Good God! Thank you so freaking much!

[vjt]

I also ran into this very same problem, I compiled the fixed EOT file and shared it here: gist.github.com/vjt/7436066. I hope this saves someone the very bad time I spent fighting with FontForge on Windows.

[ellexdev]

This solved my problem, but some eot files fixed by next case: Edit .otf file in FontForge: set all the same in PS Names and TTF Names Element - Font info... - PS Names : Fontname, Family Name, Name For Humans Element - Font info... - TTF Names : Family. Generate ttf file with modifications and convert ttf to eot by ttf2eot converter