Here’s yet another interesting thing coming from the Google labs. This could get interesting for all you type-heads.

Since we live in an era of a select few web-safe fonts that the entire interwebs can enjoy, this might as well be a breath of cool fresh air.

So, I’ve recently been introduced to Google’s Font API. Simply put, it’s an interesting API that lets you use a hand full of non-web-standard fonts that happen to be hosted by them. All that can be achieved by  plopping in some Google code snippets.

So, they’re hosting the fonts?

Hey, good news for us! It sure is a decent alternative to font-replacement tools currently out there, it looks pretty stable and it’s seemingly easy to install, include, and use. Above all that and it’s very quick to load! Since the fonts from the directory are all released under open source and since they’re coming straight from the designers themselves, you can avoid possible copyright and license issues. Only thing I need to really verify is seeing if the whole thing is browser friendly.

Having said that, all I need to do now is do some good ol’ experimentation…

Albeit their directory of fonts is a little limited, I think it still beats the select few fonts that are widely available to 99.98% of the public. I’m sure the Google font folder is going to grow over time.

If it’s a worthy replacement to the font replacement tools we have right now? I personally don’t think so. Both this API and all other font-replacements have their pros and cons, issues and advantages. You’re probably better off trying all of them out to see what suits you or your project most.

I for one really do enjoy the choice of fonts they have in their directory. Fonts used for the body of this entry is Droid Sans, the one used for the quote above happens to go by the name of Lobster.