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I wish browsers provided a setting to prefer internal system fonts over web fonts (or even option to disable web fonts completely). Readability is still importa
by martin_ky 9y ago
I wish browsers provided a setting to prefer internal system fonts over web fonts (or even option to disable web fonts completely).
Readability is still important - not everyone has a >200 ppi display.
Fonts distributed with the operating system are usually well optimized (hinted) for on-screen usage. Proper hinting is critical to readability at lower resolutions / small font sizes. Unfortunately it is a painstaking manual (and therefore expensive) process [1]. That's why virtually all web fonts are simply print fonts, unsuitable for on-screen usage, except at large point sizes (e.g. for headings).
[1] https://www.typotheque.com/articles/hinting https://www.typotheque.com/articles/hinting
- wongarsu 9y agoFirefox for Android has a setting to disable web fonts (Settings/Advanced/Show web fonts). Regular Firefox has the about:config parameter gfx.downloadable_fonts.enabled that allows disabling webfonts. To solve the problems this article presents, you could also just change gfx.downloadable_fonts.fallback_delay to something shorter than 3000 (though that won't help with hinting). Chrome apparently has (or had) a command line flag to disable web fonts, or you can use extensions. I'm not sure if it's possible on mobile Chrome.
- martin_ky 9y agoThanks for the tip. The command line flag for Chrome is --disable-remote-fonts and it works as of version 60. But this breaks also other, more useful uses of web fonts, such as font icons. I guess my gripe is mostly with web designers who prioritize design over readability.