While Google Fonts offers a vast library of beautiful typographic options for web developers, relying on external servers can introduce potential drawbacks. Remote font loading might impact website performance, and privacy concerns can arise, especially within the European Union (EU) with regulations like GDPR.
Blocksy Pro empowers you to overcome these limitations and elevate your website’s experience through local font hosting. This innovative extension allows you to download and store Google Fonts directly on your own web server, eliminating the need for external requests. By leveraging local hosting, you can:
- Boost website performance: Reduce external requests by serving fonts from your server, leading to faster page load times and a smoother user experience.
- Enhance privacy for your visitors: Address privacy concerns by eliminating reliance on third-party font servers, potentially providing added peace of mind for your EU audience.
- Granular font selection: Download only the specific font variations you require, optimizing storage space and server resources.
- Preload fonts for optimal performance: Leverage preloading to ensure fonts are readily available when needed, further enhancing website responsiveness.
Activation
To activate the Local Google Fonts Extension, simply navigate to your WordPress Dashboard -> Blocksy -> Extensions -> Pro Extensions -> Local Google Fonts.
Notice
Once you’ve activated and synchronised the Local Google Fonts Extension for the first time, all remote Google Fonts will disappear from the Blocksy customiser. This has been done to avoid confusion between the locally cached fonts and the remote served ones.
Variation Management
- Select Font Variations: Clicking the “Select Variations” button for each downloaded font grants you granular control. This window allows you to meticulously choose the specific font weights and style variations (e.g., regular, italic, bold) that you intend to download and store on your server. This meticulous selection process ensures you only store the necessary fonts, optimising storage space and server resources.
- Leverage Preloading: The “Preload” tab empowers you to further enhance website performance. By enabling preloading, you instruct the browser to load your chosen fonts even before the rest of the page content is rendered. This proactive approach eliminates the potential for a brief visual delay where fonts appear to “flash” while loading, ultimately creating a smoother and more seamless user experience.