Here's what I'd like to see in 2012. Let's say a user has web site that uses style sheets. The user goes to the font vendor and gives it the URL of the site. The vendor spiders the site and downloads it (graphics, style sheet and all) to the vendor's server. The vendor renders the user's site as a bitmap . . . as it would appear in various browsers and even different embedding schemes: WOFF, @font-face, Cufon etc. The user sees the bitmap and clicks on one of the headlines. The vendor indicates "H2 heading" and brings up a toolbar. The toolbar allows the user to change attributes such as color, offset, margins and size. It also lets the user change the font to any font carried by the vendor. The changes the user makes are seen immediately in a representation of their web site. Got it? The user is just seeing a bitmap, remotely rendered version of their site. With this kind of system a user can test drive as many fonts as they like. Since the site is being rendered on the vendor's server, there's no chance of someone ripping off the entire catalog. It also takes away the burden of the user having to test every font in multiple browsers and having to update their style sheet and refresh with every preview. You can also show how it'll look on mobile browsers, iPad etc.
Once the user has made all the changes to the remote copy of the site, purchase options are presented. There should be a choice of hosted fonts or downloadable fonts, Cufon, WOFF, EOT whatever the user wants. The fonts are delivered along with an updated style sheet. All the user has to do is upload the fonts to the correct path and replace the style sheet. It would be set up to work with popular blogging platforms too. If you're changing fonts on a Tumblr site, it would be automatically set to host the fonts and would send you a new Tumblr template. That kind of deal.
The way it is now, web font embedders can only guess what a font will look like on their site in various browsers. No matter how nice the specimens are, it's not the same as seeing it on the actual page, in the desired size and color in various browsers.
Maybe 2013?
