Why We Love Web Fonts

Google and Typekit both released some great news last week. First, Google announced that they are releasing high-quality open source fonts, deemed “Google Fonts,” in the Google Font Directory. They also went so far as to release Google Font API, an HTML-based tool that enables users to implement any of these fonts into a site with the level of ease to which we have been accustomed to from Google.

But, wait! It gets better! Typekit and Google announced the release of a Web Font Loader to smooth out any issues when putting Google Fonts to use.

The Web Font Loader puts the developer in control of how web fonts are handled by various browsers. The API fires JavaScript events at certain points, for example, when the web font completes downloading. With these events, developers can control how web fonts behave on a site so that they download consistently across all browsers. In addition, developers can set the fallback font's size to more closely match the web font, so content doesn't reflow after loading. Furthermore, the Web Font Loader is designed to make it easy to switch between different providers of web fonts, including Google, Typekit, and others. The code is modular, and we expect to see modules for other major web font providers in coming weeks.

To see an example of Google’s web fonts in the flesh, visit Smashing Magazine.

To download these open source fonts, visit the Google Font Directory.