Webfonts have been changing the world of webdesign

We LOVE designing websites. There’s something wonderful about the process and then launching a website that is always rewarding. It’s little things, like finding out what a client wants their website to do and say, and then creating a layout design and functions that make it all happen.

One thing that has really changed webdesign over the past few years is the access to embedded webfonts. Originally, us webdesigners had to choose fonts carefully (and pretty much were limited to this list) – we had to choose fonts that every type of computer user (Mac and PC) would have installed on their computer. If we chose a font that they didn’t have installed (even if we did), they wouldn’t see it on their computer. And we all know how boring Times New Roman can be as a default font, designer or not!

We could have made headings as images in the fonts that a client was after, but that also wasn’t (and still isn’t) suitable as it would make a website slow, plus screen readers and search engines can’t read images, which cuts out quite a few visitors.

But embedded webfonts have changed this, allowing a myriad of different fonts to be used on websites. An embedded font is one that loads on the website each time, and a user doesn’t need to have it already installed on their computer. This has helped a lot of businesses be able to have their website branded in the same fonts as all of their other items, such as letterheads, brochures, signage and more. It also helps give each website their own style and differences from other websites – which was a task when there were less than 10 safe webfonts years ago, and now we have thousands available through embedded webfont libraries. It’s things like this that make designers like us very excited and very happy!