One interactive feature that seems to be missing is the “compare” function, which on the old Google Fonts allowed you to overlay two fonts in your collection to see exactly how the characters differ. That seemed handy, but maybe it didn’t get a lot of use. Information is presented better than google fonts It’s nice to know where your font came from. On the old site, the specimen page included the designer’s name, which linked to their Google+ page. Sorry Google, but nobody wants to wind up on a Google page. The new site’s far superior, grid-based specimen page includes the designer’s bio right on the page itself, above a description of the font. Another piece of information that the old site provided, or attempted to provide, was the global distribution of a typeface’s implementation.
They presented this in the form of a map, with different countries shaded in different ways to signify the font’s prevalence there. Unfortunately, there was no key to what such shading meant, so it was basically meaningless. On the new site, they replace the map with a handsome pie chart, which is much more self-explanatory. Perhaps the special leads most crucial statistic that Google offered was page load speed, which increases depending on how many font families and styles (i.e. bold, italic, condensed, etc.) you select. (As a reminder, you should only select the styles you are going to use; don’t select every style in a family “just in case”). Unfortunately, on the old site, this was presented using a speedometer and a number. What this number stood for—milliseconds?—was not clear.
Things on the new site are much simpler. You end up with one of three speeds: slow, moderate, or fast. The new “featured” page is a win for designers features google fonts On the top navigation bar, between “directory” (the main page) and “about,” is a link to a new section called “featured,” where professional type foundries, Google, or individual users post curated collections like “headline-worthy serifs” or “multi-script typefaces of 2016.” It’s a great place to start looking for inspiration, and of course, you can add any typeface you discover to your collection—er, whatever it is they want us to call it. Want to learn more? Check out our articles on perfect Google Font combinations and how to choose the right Google Font.