Google Releases Font Directory

Google Font Directory & API

Today Google released the "Google Font Directory" and the "Google Font API". Google has created the Google Font Directory to help address the common need for high quality fonts for use on the web.

Most web designers will agree that integrating nice typefaces on the web can be a hassle. Employing the standard web safe fonts such as "arial" or "verdana" just don't always cut it, and designers are forced into using work arounds like cufon or sIFR which can be a pain to set up and increase page load times.

The Google Font Directory helps simplify things, and can be compared in some ways to products like Typekit. Typekit provides web designers with a library of fonts that can easily be embedded into a website through simple HTML or Javascript.

The Google Font Directory is far less robust at this time when compared to companies like Typekit, and the amount of fonts it currently has in its library is extremely limited. However, the Google Font Directory is completely 100% open source, which is a huge plus. At this time I think those who will benefit most from the Google Font Directory are designers and developers who might not require commercial typefaces enough to justify a membership to Typekit, but would like access to some nice, legal fonts for the web. And since these are open source fonts, you can even download them and use them for whatever you like.

I'm really excited about the Google Font Directory and API and am looking forward to seeing how this will develop and improve the use of high quality fonts on the web.