I am making a part-Hindi website, and I'm guessing that not all client machines (even machines physically located in India) have a Hindi font install. So, I'd like to install the font on their machines automatically or give the option to install it? How can I do that? Also which is the better option, auto-installation or option to install by following a link(?)?
That is an extremely bad idea, don't do it. I think you're going to seriously hurt the exposure and usability of your site if you require a specific font to view it. Visitors will come to the site, see that they have to download a special font just to view your site, and unless you're offering something really, really awesome for free (i.e. have extremely motivated visitors), noone is going to bother sticking around to do that. On top of that, I think you may have to close and restart your browser after installing a new font before the browser will recognize it. I'm not positive about that, because I've never seen anyone try and force a font install to view a website before. That being said, I don't believe you can auto-install a font to view a web page. You can auto-prompt a download, but not force an install. But I wouldn't do it, because people are going to think you're trying to force a virus or bug on them. I believe the only choice you'd have is to offer a link to download it.
I agree with the above post. You could look into the possibility of using sirf, basically allows you to display fonts that are not installed on the client's machine. I have never used it personally, but I hear good things about it. http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=sifr&btnG=Google+Search&meta=
You could put your Hindi text in an image format, then everyone can read it and if you need the SEs to index the text put it in the Alt= tag
It's good, but for headings only. It's totally impractical for the bulk text on a website. What I would say, is that people who expect to read a site in a particular language (one that requires a special font) usually have that font installed. Can you not offer the content in a latin based language as well?