I
think we have removed all the FA calls from 1.1, updating them all with SVG images so there should be no need to load it by default.
In 1.0 the FA css is always loaded by the core since we use it in the default theme. I'm thinking we can update that to only load if a) the theme settings calls for it, or b) a modification calls for it. Also depreciate it so it can be removed in 2.0.
Something like
if (!empty($settings['require_font-awesome']) || !empty($modSettings['require_font-awesome']))
loadCSSFile('font-awesome.min.css');
Any objections?
Did I miss why you don't want to use FA anymore and go back to image files? If you don't want to be dependent from others, why not install and use an own font file with such icons inside ElkArte?
If there'a alredy a topic regarding this question please point me to it. Or say: "Please use the search function". ;)
There is a topic (or was it a github issue? I don't remember), but I'm too lazy to search it myself.
Off the top of my head: fonts in place of images are bad for accessibility, images should be images and not text, SVG images are much more flexible than fonts (if you want you can color them the way you want for example, including multiple colors) and retain most of the advantages of FA (can be scaled without losing quality), are (more or less) small text elements.
The "depending on others" is not really a problem, we already depend on others for several things and, to me, we should use any opportunity do delegate to others if at all possible. :)
Thanks for the explanation. Seems SVG images have a lot of benefits.