Google enters the @font-face business
Google is throwing its own hat into the web fonts ring with the Google Font Directory and the Google Font API. While it appears it doesn’t have any partnerships with the big names in typography like TypeKit does, just a handful of open fonts, it does have a partnership with TypeKit itself (as you’ll see below).
How the Google Font API works
Once you pick a font, you can embed it on a webpage by grabbing code that looks like this:
<link href='http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Josefin+Sans+Std+Light' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'>
And use it in your stylesheet like this:
h1 { font-family: 'Josefin Sans Std Light', arial, serif; }
You can also use other fonts using the WebFont Loader, which is a JavaScript library developed by Google and TypeKit.
Bane or Boon?
Although I won’t be ditching Font Squirrel anytime soon, one great thing about this new development is that the fonts are hosted on the most reliable servers in the world, just like the different JavaScript libraries are. The even greater thing is that this is Google, one of the strongest forces on the Web, is placing a stake another aspect of web standards.
Of course those things are scary at the same time. Google can just pick any endeavor under the sun, spend resources on it, and possibly dominate, if not dictate the market in no time. It may not get the purist designer types on board, since Google doesn’t exactly have the best reputation for great design, and its presentation has a bit of a developer slant, but it knows its web design technologies well. And in the case of web standards, where new practices are being adopted and old browsers are being discarded at a snail’s pace, Google’s massive resources and influence can only do well to speed things up.
