Export to SVG embeds fonts in deprecated SVG font format no longer supported by most browsers

Graham Hannington over 3 years ago

The CorelDRAW 2019 SVG export option "Embed Font in File" embeds fonts in the SVG font format that is no longer supported by most browsers.

Viewing such an SVG file in a web browser on the same computer that you used to create it in CorelDRAW can lull you into thinking the SVG file is "okay", because the text inside the SVG graphic renders in the correct font. However, that's only because the font is installed on your computer; the SVG file refers to a font name, and the browser uses that installed font, not the embedded SVG font definition.

If you view the same SVG file in most browsers on a computer that does not have that font, then the text will be rendered in a default font, such as Times New Roman. Probably not the look you want.

I export SVG from CorelDRAW without embedding fonts, and then I use svg-buddy to embed web (WOFF2) fonts.

Dear CorelDRAW developers,

Could you please consider:

Qualifying the option label "Embed Font in File" to make it clearer that this option embeds SVG fonts, which won't work in most web browsers?
Introducing svg-buddy-like support for embedding other font formats? (Ideally, the more-compact WOFF2 in preference to, say, TTF.)

0 Graham Hannington over 2 years ago
Revisiting this topic 11 months later...

I note with disappointment:

No response from the CorelDRAW developers

CorelDRAW 2021 (what I'm using now) still embeds fonts in the SVG font format
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0 Graham Hannington 2 months ago
I wrote:

> I use svg-buddy to embed web (WOFF2) fonts

That was then, before I realized that:

svg-buddy isn't sensitive to font-weight (or font-style). For details, see svg-buddy issue #7, "Does not embed multiple font weights; not sensitive to CSS font-weight".

In the absence of a definition for a specific font weight or style, browsers will attempt to emulate that weight or style. For details, see the 2012 A List Apart article "Say No to Faux Bold".

Now, I observe which font weights and styles are required (easy to tell from the CSS in the SVG exported from CorelDRAW, if it's not obvious from the artwork in CorelDRAW), and then manually copy'n'paste in each required WOFF2-format weight and style. I'm not proud of this method, but it works. It's occurred to me to automate it, but so far I haven't found the time.
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