Expanding fonts choices in Google Docs

Online typography is evolving at a rapid pace as more content providers get into the mix. Live type- text that can be copied and pasted, and more importantly, searched by web bots- is crucial to search engine optimization of a website. But designers such as myself are not satisfied with the (very) limited choices available- those fonts that are installed on every machine and device, such as Verdana, Arial and Times.

Enter Adobe, where, if you are a Creative Cloud member, you can use Typekit to choose web fonts you may not have locally (on your device) and Google Fonts which offers a great selection of fonts for free. Adding a line of code (supplied) to the head section of your web page calls up fonts from an online storage database to display text in that font. They don't have every font, but they have quite a selection to expand previously available choices.

I've written about this in the past, and that isn't what prompted today's post. In a busy schedule, I don't always want to open InDesign to type up an invoice, save it out as a pdf, and email it; that's why I made a blank invoice template in Google Docs. Here again, I thought my font choices were limited to the default few, but today I discovered you can use any of the google web fonts in your google docs! At the very bottom of the dropdown fonts menu, you'll see a small "F+ More fonts…" where you can add a selection of other fonts to the font menu in Google docs. Using a cloud based platform no longer means you have to be bland or boring!


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fonts for the web

Until recently, using typefaces other than the ones that come pre-installled on computers, such as Times or Verdana, required using images of the text, rather than live text that can be selected, copied, and most importantly searched by bots. Google can't read text embedded images, so designers were left choosing between style and practicality. Now the use of web fonts is coming into practice. By placing a line of code that links back to your chosen online service, each time your web page is loaded, the browser contacts the font server and "translates" your text into your chosen font and then displays that. The technology is nascent, and the service I am using on this test page did not offer any of the first three or four fonts I searched for, so compromises must still be made. You'll notice it take a second to load- not really noticeable, but just long enough for the server to say "Hey, can I have a font over here?" It's exciting, and long overdue, and I can't wait to see what possibilities are in store!

Put our knowledge and expertise to work for your business— visit our webpage and then contact Canzani Graphics today!
All content ©2011Canzani Graphics