It's not really the same to use images... It's not uncommon to see websites with a light feel, where main pages contain actual paragraphs of text at size 16-18pt - you can actually make a really good impression by changing the font to something elegant in that case. You don't need any sacrifices for usability, SEO or content management when you design those pages. The text is there for everyone and owner of the website can edit it without going through image exports, etc.
Of course it won't look as good as it would in a pdf for a couple more years, but it's a good start anyways.
Can you give any examples of pages where you think the use of an alternative font has improved the display of body text? I'd be happy to find cases where it makes a real difference, but it has been my experience that there just isn't enough variation at typical screen resolutions between, say, one mainstream serif font and another, that the choice of font is the deciding factor in terms of impact and legibility.
Good appearance on-screen seems to be governed much more by basic design characteristics such as x-height, and by the quality of the hinting, and frankly even the serious font foundries suck at those things in comparison to the Microsoft C-fonts that were designed for anti-aliasing, the old stand-bys of Georgia and Verdana that were designed with screen use in mind, etc.
Of pages that have improved by using alternative font - unfortunately I can't. If anyone is doing that, they certainly don't advertise it, so I can't give you any specific examples.
I based my opinion almost entirely on my experience, that even a slight change of font can make a big difference in someone's perception. I've seen people being positively surprised when I use a "different" font for normal everyday text (1-2 pages). Nothing crazy - just a bit more stylish. I also got an impression that using nice fonts (with better visible horizontal lines, etc.) got me an additional point or two at the university (no scientific test of course - I've seen very similar in content, but typographically "nicer" texts getting higher marks - just my opinion)
> I based my opinion almost entirely on my experience, that even a slight change of font can make a big difference in someone's perception.
On paper, I wouldn't necessarily disagree with you.
On screen, however, I doubt the odd pixel makes any significant difference. I'm prepared to be convinced otherwise, but I have yet to see any of these professional font foundries prove me wrong.
I do know that I have bought and paid for several pro-grade fonts, which I happily use in print, but which I wouldn't use on a web site even if I legally could. The on-screen rendering is nowhere close to as good as the fonts designed for screen use that I mentioned earlier.
Of course it won't look as good as it would in a pdf for a couple more years, but it's a good start anyways.