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Google could at least globally cache all the fonts when Chrome is installed; a one time download which is then available for use on all sites. If they licensed

by tux1968 6y ago

Google could at least globally cache all the fonts when Chrome is installed; a one time download which is then available for use on all sites. If they licensed other browsers to do the same, the number of fonts available to designers would be large without the performance hit.

benmanns 6y ago
Afaik the license terms may already allow this for most or all of the fonts.
mthoms 6y ago
Good idea, except that the purpose of Google fonts (from Google's perspective) is to provide another means of tracking what sites people are visiting. Maybe a browser extension can do this though.
- dredmorbius 6y ago
  Hanlon's Handgun strikes again: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21691282 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21691282
- d1zzy 6y ago
  That's a bold assertion, care to back that up?
  - colejohnson66 6y ago
    I can’t see it as being true because Chrome already knows what sites you visit. Bundling the fonts wouldn’t change that.
  - mthoms 6y ago
    Google claims to not associate the data with particular users (it's anonymized), but there's nothing to stop it from using the data to know how popular certain sites or pages are, what region(s) visitors are coming from, and what user agents (browsers) are being used. And so on. Let me ask you a similar question. Is there any evidence whatsoever that Google built this service out of the goodness of their hearts, and have no intent of using it to gain any sort of competitive advantage? And if you do believe that, is there any evidence that Google will continue to spend millions of dollars supporting a service that gives them zero benefit? What does their track record say about that? For the record, I'm not anti-Google, nor ultra privacy focused. I just think it's common sense that Google expects some sort of ROI here. To many, using Google fonts is considered a fair exchange (especially given that their data is anonymized) and I think that's a perfectly reasonable position. But make no mistake, there is a clear benefit to Google here.
- colejohnson66 6y ago
  If they provide it in Chrome, there’s no reason they couldn’t track that stuff even without Google Fonts being bundled. The browser already knows every site you visit. Knowing you visited example.com that used “Example Sans” doesn’t give anything more than just knowing you visited example.com. Bundling with browsers outside of Chrome would be a different story, but Google has no say over that anyways.
  - mthoms 6y ago
    Not everyone uses Chrome. And Chrome's high market share is not a given going forward (especially with regulators eyeing it)

benmanns 6y ago

Afaik the license terms may already allow this for most or all of the fonts.

mthoms 6y ago

Good idea, except that the purpose of Google fonts (from Google's perspective) is to provide another means of tracking what sites people are visiting. Maybe a browser extension can do this though.

dredmorbius 6y ago
Hanlon's Handgun strikes again: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21691282 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21691282
d1zzy 6y ago
That's a bold assertion, care to back that up?
- colejohnson66 6y ago
  I can’t see it as being true because Chrome already knows what sites you visit. Bundling the fonts wouldn’t change that.
- mthoms 6y ago
  Google claims to not associate the data with particular users (it's anonymized), but there's nothing to stop it from using the data to know how popular certain sites or pages are, what region(s) visitors are coming from, and what user agents (browsers) are being used. And so on. Let me ask you a similar question. Is there any evidence whatsoever that Google built this service out of the goodness of their hearts, and have no intent of using it to gain any sort of competitive advantage? And if you do believe that, is there any evidence that Google will continue to spend millions of dollars supporting a service that gives them zero benefit? What does their track record say about that? For the record, I'm not anti-Google, nor ultra privacy focused. I just think it's common sense that Google expects some sort of ROI here. To many, using Google fonts is considered a fair exchange (especially given that their data is anonymized) and I think that's a perfectly reasonable position. But make no mistake, there is a clear benefit to Google here.
colejohnson66 6y ago
If they provide it in Chrome, there’s no reason they couldn’t track that stuff even without Google Fonts being bundled. The browser already knows every site you visit. Knowing you visited example.com that used “Example Sans” doesn’t give anything more than just knowing you visited example.com. Bundling with browsers outside of Chrome would be a different story, but Google has no say over that anyways.
- mthoms 6y ago
  Not everyone uses Chrome. And Chrome's high market share is not a given going forward (especially with regulators eyeing it)