Font stacks V Google Fonts

[Zygoma]

Buongiorno from 3 Degrees slushy & wet 3c wetherby UK :-)

I'm refreshing my knowledge on how to change fonts on got pretty exited how easy it is to add a Google Font, heres one i prepared earlier:
http://tutorial.davidclick.com/2menu.html

The last time i tried to change a font with CSS it was all about font stacks (Long time ago) so its been quite a reveleation you can so easily import fonts from Google but i wonder are there any hazards between the choices of font stacks: cssfontstack.com & Google fonts: google.com/webfonts?

Any insights welcome,
David

[zot]

I love google fonts and not experienced any problems to date. Knock on wood. I know that's not very insightful, but .

[Force Flow]

but i wonder are there any hazards between the choices of font stacks: cssfontstack.com & Google fonts: google.com/webfonts?

cssfontstack shows only the most commonly installed system fonts.

google's webfonts goes way beyond that and allows you to include and embed additional fonts in your website. While it's a convenient way to add fonts to your website, the downside of this is that you're relying on a 3rd-party service's performance and uptime.

[Stevie D]

One of the big problems with embedding fonts is that it can add considerably to the download/processor work, which can make your site sluggish, particularly for people on slow computers or slow connections. It depends how important that font really is as to whether you need users to download it, or if it's fine to let them have whichever of Verdana, Helvetica or whatever else they happen to have installed. That's particularly true for body text, where a lot of downloadable fonts don't seem to display well at small sizes.

[ralph.m]

I've found Google fonts to be quite unreliable, so I don't use them. There are lots of paid font services, like TypeKit and FontDeck, but my favorite is still FontSqurrel, which has lots of free fonts that you upload to your website, so you aren't reliant on 3rd part services to serve them up.

As Stevie D said, it's an extra download for your users, so use them wisely. I've only used them on client sites where a certain font (or font type) was demanded.