FontChecker

FontChecker is a highly inventive JavaScript-based font availability checker.

Plugin Code (Version 1.0)

var FontChecker = new Class({
	/* implements */
	Implements: [Options],
	/* options */
	options: {
		fakeFont: '__RUBBUSH_FONT__',
		testString: 'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz'
	},
	/* initialization */
	initialize: function(options) {
		//set options
		this.setOptions(options);
	},
	/* a method that does whatever you want */
	check: function(desiredFont) {
		/* create a hidden element */
		var element = new Element('span',{
			styles: {
				visibility: 'hidden',
				'font-family': this.options.fakeFont
			},
			html: this.options.testString
		}).inject(document.body);
		/* apply a fake font, get width */
		var width = element.getCoordinates().width;
		/* apply desired font */
		element.setStyle('font-family', desiredFont);
		var new_width = element.getCoordinates().width;
		/* take our temp element out of the DOM */
		element.dispose();
		/* same width = most likely has font */
		return (width !== new_width);
	}
});


/* usage */
window.addEvent('domready',function() {
	var fc = new FontChecker();
	var hasFont = fc.check('Arial');
});

Options

• fakeFont: (defaults to '__RUBBUSH_FONT__') the fake font to use as a base/default.
• testString: (defaults to "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz") the string to base the test on.

Code Revisions & Bug Fixes

None.