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CSS CSS Basics (2014) Enhancing the Design With CSS Web Fonts with @font-face

Routine Poutine
Routine Poutine
26,050 Points

@font-face vs. <link href= Google Fonts>

Hi,

I usually use Google Fonts for extras, and past the CDN's address in <link>.

  1. Is @font-face another way to do this?
  2. Is it more or less common than using <link>?
  3. When is it the preferred method?

Best,

Matt

1 Answer

Adam Pengh
Adam Pengh
29,881 Points

If you're using linking to the Google Font CDN, you do not need to use @font-face. For example, if you put this URL in your browser, you will see that the @font-face declarations. https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Roboto

You only need to use @font-face if you are hosting fonts locally. Then you would need to use @font-face to declare the path to load the fonts. Example:

@font-face {
  font-family: 'Custom Font';
  font-style: normal;
  font-weight: 400;
  src: 
    local('Custom'), 
    local('Custom-Regular'), url(/path/to/custom/font.woff2) format('woff2'),
    local('Custom-Regular'), url(/path/to/custom/font.woff) format('woff');
}