Google Fonts is super popular and highly appreciated, but many of us don’t know all the useful information about it.
So, let’s start.

How many fonts are included in Google Fonts?

There are over 1,400 font families and all of these fonts were tested in over 135 languages.

The font catalog was enriched in 2021 with icons.

The very first icon set was the Material icons which were used for common communication needs.

Can you Google Fonts for free for both private and commercial needs?

It is important you to know that all the fonts and icons from the Google Fonts catalog are open source and available to anyone.

You can use them with your friends and colleagues, but also commercially. That means you can include Google Fonts in your products without asking for permission.

Check here the most common license – SIL Open Font License. Some fonts are under the Apache license or Ubuntu Font License. You can redistribute open source fonts according to those conditions.

What about using Google Fonts in your logo designs?

You can use Google Fonts for free for any logo design you want.

The only concern you should have is to find the right font design for your logo.

Tell me more about Google Fonts icons

Here, you will find superb free icons that you can use right away in your projects, both private and commercial.

As you will just see, there are over 2,500 glyphs in a single font file.

Symbols include 3 styles and 4 adjustable variable font styles (weight, grade, fill, optical size).

Use all the filters to easily find the icons you need for your projects.

Google Fonts have variable fonts

Use variable fonts to create your own custom fonts in seconds, without having any typography knowledge or experience.

Select the filter variable fonts and pick the font you like to start customize.

The customization process is very simple and you will see each change instantly.

Try it, it is very nice to create custom fonts for free, in seconds.

What if you cannot find the right font on Google Fonts?

The great thing about Google Fonts is that it contains lots of free fonts.

But the bad thing is that the whole planet uses them – almost 60 million websites are using Google Fonts.

If you cannot find the right font on Google Fonts, or you want to use fonts that will make your website, landing page, or project, stand out of the crowd, you should look for cool fonts on the websites that you like most.

You can also check website designers’ portfolios, Behance, and other websites.

This is precisely how top web designers do and the results are great.

When you find fonts that you like, please take pictures of that fonts, upload them on WhatFontIs.com and follow the 3 steps to identify them.

The process as you might already know it is 100% free and nobody will ask for your contact details.

For each font you upload, you will get this information:

– Name of the font

– Free or paid + price

– Download link

– 60+ free and paid font alternatives

Conclusions

Google Fonts is a great solution for people that need a quick, free, and general font solution for their projects.

It is very true that Google Fonts contain many cool fonts, but all of them are overused by tens of millions of websites.

Before choosing to use Google Fonts for your projects, don’t forget that you can easily use many other free or paid fonts that are highly affordable.

The post Everything You Need To Know About Google Fonts appeared first on WhatFontIs.com Playground.

The WordPress Google Fonts Plugin, widely used for enhancing typography, has been found vulnerable, putting over 300,000 sites at risk.

Lets delve into the details of this security breach, its potential ramifications, and the necessary steps to mitigate the threat.

Understanding the Vulnerability

The WordPress Google Fonts Plugin is a popular choice among website owners and developers seeking to integrate various fonts.

However, a recent security assessment has unearthed a vulnerability within the plugin.

This left sites exposed to potential exploitation by malicious actors.

The nature of this vulnerability allows unauthorized individuals to gain access to sensitive data.

Scope of the Threat

With the WordPress Google Fonts Plugin vulnerability impacting a staggering 300,000 sites, the scale of this threat is significant.

Websites relying on this plugin for font customization are potentially susceptible to a range of attacks:

• data breaches
• the injection of malicious code.

Given the plugin’s widespread usage, the fallout could extend beyond individual site compromises, affecting the broader WordPress ecosystem.

Potential Ramifications

The consequences of this vulnerability are multifaceted:

• Unauthorized access to sensitive data – user information and login credentials
• Injection of malicious code could lead to the distribution of malware, compromise site functionality, or redirect users to fraudulent websites.
• The reputational damage resulting from a security breach can be severe.

Mitigation Measures

In response to this critical security issue, immediate action is imperative to safeguard WordPress sites utilizing the Google Fonts Plugin. Website owners and administrators are advised to:

1. Update the Plugin: Check for available updates for the WordPress Google Fonts Plugin and apply them promptly. Developers often release security patches in response to vulnerabilities, and staying up-to-date is a crucial preventive measure.
2. Security Audits: Conduct comprehensive security audits of affected websites to identify and address any signs of unauthorized access or suspicious activities. Utilize security plugins and monitoring tools to enhance the overall protection of the site.
3. Backup Data: Regularly back up website data to mitigate the impact of a potential breach. Having recent backups ensures the ability to restore the site to a secure state in the event of a security incident.
4. Monitor Site Activity: Implement real-time monitoring to track user activities, login attempts, and any anomalous behavior. Early detection of suspicious activities allows for swift intervention before a security breach escalates.
5. Consider Alternatives: If the security concerns persist or if the plugin’s developers fail to address the vulnerability promptly, website owners may need to explore alternative font customization solutions to mitigate risks.

Conclusion

The revelation of the WordPress Google Fonts Plugin vulnerability serves as a stark reminder of the constant need for vigilance in the digital landscape.

Website owners and administrators must prioritize cybersecurity, promptly addressing vulnerabilities to protect their sites and the trust of their users. As the WordPress community rallies to address and resolve this issue, the collective effort to fortify online platforms against evolving threats remains paramount.

The post Huge WordPress Google Fonts Plugin Vulnerability appeared first on WhatFontIs.com Playground.

The change to Chrome browser took place in October 2020. It affected the performance of Google Fonts for millions of websites.

It is a massive headache for both Google and us, the website owners.

What is a browser cache system and which is his role?

Browser cache is a smart solution that browsers use so we can access faster web files.

With no cache, the browser would load every time all these files.

You might think that we have 5G and strong internet connection, and cache is not important, but this not actually accurate.

Most of the world hasn’t such a good internet connection.

And in plus, search engines penalize websites that are slow loading.

So, cache is extremely important as it heavily decreases the loading time for a website.

There are 2 downsides of cache:

• The first is that you might see an older version of the website. From time to time, hit the refresh button to be sure that you see the latest version.

• From a security point of view, cache is not the best as the files were shared from your cache for different websites.

If an image was already in your cache and you visit a new website with the same image, Chrome gets it from your cache.

This result in web attacks and all kind of bad stuff.

What about Google Chrome New Cache Partitioning?

Chrome 86 was released in October 2020 and this new version came with an entire new caching system.

Before this update, Chrome was using a big cache for all websites (sharing files from different websites – it is one of the cache downsides).

Now Google instead uses a portioned Chrome cache. That means that each website will have its own “cache”.

They did it to increase security, and this move for sure stopped already thousands of web attacks.

But this move affected the performance of web services designed around the old cache system.

One such web service is Google Fonts, a web portal launched in 2010.

The service allows website owners to load any font hosted on Google servers by writing a single line of JavaScript or CSS code.

According to BuiltWith web statistics service, Google Fonts are currently used on over 42.7 million websites.

Now just imagine the impact of new Chrome cache partitioning feature.

What should you do?

Simon Wicki, a popular frontend developer from Berlin, wrote in a blog post this week that Chrome 86 made Google Fonts completely useless.

This happened beecause the cache system will force users to re-download all the fonts that each website, they visit use.

To help your website visitors, you should to self-host custom fonts directly on your server, or hosting provider.

In my opinion, hosting providers will probably use this solution for all their users. Let’s see if I am right.

The idea of self-host fonts is not new, it was discussed quite often in 2018 by several web developers and even by Google in I/O 2018 talk.

Conclusions

Nobody expected such a bold move from Google. Chrome new cache partitioning heavily impacted Google Fonts performance and even more. It might destroy it.

Probably Google team projected this huge impact and they will soon come with a solution. At least this what the 42.7 million websites that use Google fonts hope.

We will continue the discussion of this subject on WhatFontIs blog.

The post Google Chrome New Cache Partitioning Heavily Impacted Google Fonts Performance appeared first on WhatFontIs.com Playground.