What You Need to Know About the Web Font Loader

The Web Font Loader is a powerful tool that allows web developers to load fonts from various providers and ensure compatibility across different browsers. In this article, we'll delve into the world of font loading and explore how the Web Font Loader can help you achieve seamless typography on your website.

Background on Web Font Loaders

In 2015, Yanmar released new models of wheel loaders with enhanced off-road durability and improved working capabilities. These machines are used in various industries such as civil engineering, quarrying, snow removal, and livestock market operations. Similarly, the Web Font Loader was designed to provide a robust solution for font loading across different browsers.

How the Web Font Loader Works

The Web Font Loader is a JavaScript library that determines whether the current browser supports the loaded fonts. If the browser does not support the font, the `fontinactive` event will be triggered. On the other hand, if the browser does support the font, the `fontactive` event will be triggered.

When loading fonts from multiple providers, each provider may or may not support a given browser. The Web Font Loader determines whether the current browser can support and load fonts from at least one provider. If no provider is found to support the current browser, the inactive event will be triggered.

Special Cases with Web Fonts

Web font providers can build on top of the basic Web Font Loader functionality to handle special cases individually. However, the Web Font Loader does not have built-in support for handling these special cases and defaults to believing what's in the user agent string.

For instance, a web font provider may decide to send WOFF fonts to a device because the real desktop Chrome supports it, while the mobile browser does not. This is especially noticeable on mobile browsers with a 'Desktop' mode, which usually identify as Chrome on Linux. Similarly, the user agent string may claim to support a web font format when it in fact does not.

Installing and Using the Web Font Loader

Installing the Web Font Loader is easy! Simply run `npm install webfontloader` and then require it in your code. The browser will wait for the script to load before continuing to load the rest of the content, avoiding Flash of Unstyled Text (FOUT).

To avoid FOUT when loading the Web Font Loader synchronously, you can automatically set the `wf-loading` class on the HTML element as soon as `Webfont.load` has been called. However, be aware that using the script asynchronously may cause the rest of the page to render before the Web Font Loader is loaded and executed, resulting in FOUT.

In conclusion, the Web Font Loader is a powerful tool for loading fonts across different browsers. By understanding how it works and handling special cases individually, you can ensure seamless typography on your website. Whether you're working on a large-scale project or a small startup, the Web Font Loader can help you achieve your font-related goals.

Web font loader