The mkeot command writes an EOT (Embedded OpenType) file on standard output that contains the given font
file (OpenType or TrueType) and the given URLs.
mkeot handles TrueType files, OpenType files with TrueType outlines, and OpenType files with Postscript
outlines. (Technically: all files with the "sfnt" format.) However, Microsoft's Web browser InternetExplorer (version 8) cannot handle Postscript outlines. To use EOT files with that browser, OpenType
files with Postscript outlines must be converted to TrueType files first. Several prgrams are able to do
that, including the free fontforge.
The URLs that are added to the EOT file list the Web pages on which the EOT font may be used. They act as
prefixes, which means that, e.g., a URL such as http://example.org/foo enables a font not only for that
precise page, but also for http://example.org/foo2 or http://example.org/foo/bar or any other pages whose
URL starts with the prefix.
The EOT specification allows EOT files without any URLs, but is not clear on the meaning of such a file.
In practice, at least in Microsoft's Internet Explorer (version 8), an empty list of URLs means the font
applies to no Web page at all.
EOT font are typically used for Web pages. To that end, a link (URL) to the EOT file must appear in the
Web page's style sheet. A typical rule in CSS looks like this:
@font-face {
font-family: My Fancy Font;
font-style: normal;
font-weight: normal;
src: url(http://example.org/fonts/fancy-roman.eot);
}
body {
font-family: My Fancy Font, serif;
}
This downloads the EOT file from the given URL and declares it to be a font of normal weight and roman
style with the family name "My Fancy Font." That font can then be used in style rules, such as, in this
example, to set the font of body text. See the "CSS Fonts Module level 3" for details on CSS.
TrueType files typically have the extension .ttf, OpenType files typically have the extension .otf and
EOT files typically end in .eot.