In a sea of identical material, web fonts are the secret to making your website stand out. They make sure you have typeface selections and don’t run into speed issues as other websites can when they don’t use high-quality typesetting or web-friendly designs for their pages.
The value of having great-looking text cannot be stressed – especially if we want to keep our company’s reputation!
However, the time it takes for a page to load increases a little with each font used. Therefore, you must optimize each typeface.
Additionally, optimized web fonts can help reduce overall page size and improve key web metrics. By doing so, pages load faster and provide a better experience for users.
There’s a lot to consider when optimizing your website for performance. One element that oftentimes gets overlooked is web fonts. In this blog, we’ll look at some tips for optimizing your web fonts so you can ensure faster website performance for your visitors.
What Do Web Fonts Mean?
An individual typeface created with the website in mind is known as a web font. Unlike the limited options offered by the built-in system fonts, enables consistent and aesthetically pleasing typography. Web fonts can boost readability and the user experience of a website in addition to increasing its visual appeal.
They can also be used to portray the distinctive character and style of a brand or business. By using web fonts rather than system fonts, the text will display correctly on all major browsers and mobile platforms.
Web fonts primarily come in two categories:
Web-safe fonts are fonts that are often pre-installed on many computers and widely recognized by web browsers. By using web-safe fonts, designers can ensure that their intended font and design will display properly for all viewers.
One important note about web-safe fonts is that they are not always universal across different operating systems. For example, a Mac and PC may have different sets of pre-installed fonts. It is therefore important for designers to consider the various operating systems their audience may be using before selecting a web-safe font.
Webfonts on the other hand are fonts specifically designed for websites and electronic documents. These fonts allow for more flexibility and creativity in design, as they can be easily downloaded and implemented into digital content.
Webfonts differ from traditional desktop fonts in that they use a special file format called WOFF, which is optimized for web use. Additionally, web fonts are often licensed for specific use cases and on certain domains or several devices.
Why Is It Important To Optimize Your Web Fonts?
When it comes to website design, the fonts you use can have a significant impact on user experience. Poorly optimized fonts can lead to slow loading times, impacting visitors’ willingness to stick around and browse your site. In addition, font choices can also have a subconscious effect on how users perceive your brand – for example, using a trendy or modern font might convey a stylish image, while an outdated or overly decorative font could make your site appear outdated and unprofessional.
Of course, font optimization also extends to ensuring that your fonts are accessible for all users, including those with visual impairments who rely on screen readers. By taking time to optimize your web fonts, you can create a better overall experience for your visitors while also positively reinforcing your brand’s image.
How Do You Put Fonts On Your WordPress Website?
Adding new fonts to your WordPress website is easier than you may think.
- First, find a font that you like and download the .ttf or .otf file.
- Next, go to the Appearance section of your WordPress dashboard and select “Add New” under the “Fonts” heading.
- From there, upload the font file and activate it.
- Finally, go to the Customize section and use the dropdown menu to select the newly added font for specific elements of your website such as headings or body text.
Keep in mind that not all fonts may be compatible with website formatting, so be sure to test them before fully committing to a new font style.
Tips To Optimize Your Web Fonts
In order to optimize your web fonts for faster website performance, it’s important to understand how they work and what impact they have on page load times. Here are some tips to help you get started:
1. Check And Keep An Eye On Font Usage
The fonts you choose for your website can have a huge impact on its overall performance. Not only do some fonts consume more bandwidth, leading to slower loading speeds, but they can also slow down the rendering process on the visitor’s device. This is why it’s important to carefully monitor the font usage on your website.
Keep track of how many different fonts you’re using and consider streamlining to just one or two options. It’s also a good idea to leverage pre-loaded system fonts, as these will already be stored on the visitor’s device and won’t require additional downloads. By regularly checking and optimizing your website’s font usage, you can ensure a smoother user experience and improved performance.
2. Subset Font Resources
You can improve your website’s performance while still maintaining its unique style. Subset fonts allow you to only include the characters necessary for your website, cutting down on the overall file size and increasing load times.
This optimization technique is especially valuable for websites with large amounts of text or multiple languages. In addition, using subset fonts can enhance security by removing any potential vulnerabilities from unused characters.
3. Make Use Of Modern Font Formats
One of the main culprits for slow loading times can be the fonts used on a website. Thankfully, with modern font formats such as WOFF2 and ASCI3, we can optimize our web fonts for faster performance. These formats not only support a wide range of languages and glyphs, but they also have smaller file sizes which can improve load times.
Additionally, they offer various compression methods to further reduce file size while maintaining high-quality rendering.
4. Use Cookies
One often overlooked tool for optimizing web font performance is cookies. By setting cookies for fonts, browsers can cache them for future use, leading to faster load times for your website visitors. Additionally, using cookies allows you to serve different fonts to different users, giving you more control over the overall visual aesthetic of your website.
5. Limit The Number Of Characters
The larger the character set, the longer it takes for your browser to download and render the font in a webpage. Narrowing down the character set to only include necessary characters can lead to faster loading times without sacrificing design options. Of course, always make sure that the characters you do include cover various languages and symbols as needed for your audience.
6. Utilize A Preload Header
By specifying the fonts you want to preload in the header of your HTML document, you can ensure that they are ready to be displayed as soon as a visitor lands on your page. In addition, preloading fonts allow for more efficient caching and faster rendering, leading to an overall boost in performance.
7. Loading Of Web Fonts Asynchronously
Fonts’ impact on overall load time is minimized by loading them separately from other resources. Asynchronous loading also ensures that any text on the page is visible while the font files are downloaded. Users will have a more enjoyable experience because they will not have to wait for all elements to fully load before they can begin reading content.
Developers can use the CSS3 @font-face rule to implement asynchronous font loading, or they can use third-party services like Google Fonts or Typekit.
8. Caching Is Essential
By storing frequently used fonts in the browser cache, webpage text can be rendered faster without having to download new font files every time the page is accessed. Caching also reduces strain on the server, resulting in overall improved website performance and a better user experience.
It’s important to note that caching isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution, and may not be appropriate for certain types of websites or situations. However, for those looking to optimize their web fonts for speed, implementing font caching is a crucial step. With some careful planning and implementation, caching can make a noticeable difference in load times and overall website performance.
CONCLUSION:
Web fonts play an important role in the overall design and user experience of your website. When used correctly, they can help improve performance and create a more polished, professional look. However, if not optimized properly, web fonts can slow down your website.
Fortunately, there are several things you can do to ensure that your web fonts perform as well as possible. At Adjossible, we specialize in helping businesses speed up websites to rank higher in search results.
Contact us today for a free consultation and learn how we can help you get the most out of your web fonts.
