Google Fonts are completely safe to use to enhance the design of your website. But, don’t worry about the lack of the word safe. Web safe fonts already have font files ready on the majority of devices. Confusing, we know, but the difference is that your browser needs to load a file before it can show Google fonts. Rather, since Google, a third-party, hosts them, a Google Font is called a web font. Google Fonts aren’t inherently supported by your operating system, so by definition, they aren’t web safe fonts. Because nearly 70% of consumers say page speed influences their purchasing decisions. So, switching to web safe fonts can speed up your website. In addition, if you choose to use and host a custom local font, or font hosted by a third party, it can slow down your website. So if you design a website with a font only supported by the newest version of Windows 10, most users will see something else.

In fact, supported fonts vary based on the operating systems, including the current version a user has.

But that doesn’t mean web safe fonts are a thing of the past. Sure, the vast majority of users now use Google Chrome, both on mobile and desktop. Are Web Safe Fonts Necessary in 2022? Browser market share 2019-2020 (Image source: StatCounter)

The operating system automatically includes the font files, so visitors don’t have to download fonts from your servers.Īn example is the ubiquitous Arial font that birthed thousands of “spin-offs”. Including variations, there are over 650,000 different fonts available online. Fonts that are supported by the majority of web browsers and operating systems are considered to be web safe.

Tech fonts for mac free