Thought the weight of a story can only be measured by its plot, proper presentation is a must to deliver the right idea to the reader. If importance is to be given to a certain phrase in a paragraph, then the only way to do that is to use a different font from the rest of the text. That’s why fonts are nowadays considered very important in the context of writing. Selecting the right font for your website might need an expert’s choice, though most rely on the same fonts like Arial or Georgia. There are many movies with the same concept, only the screenplay is different and decides the fate. Similarly, there are many websites with the same content, so as a designer you must realize to use proper fonts as well to lead the row. Today, we’re going to discuss some web addresses that have marked their spot in the field of fonts as legendary:
Typekit
Maybe it’s one of the first few websites that realized the importance of fonts and since then is providing services to some of the web giants like Twitter, New York Times, etc. The names are enough to catch your attention and ring a bell of the heavy prices those companies might be paying as the fee. But Typekit is for everyone; whether it’s an established website or a newcomer. In fact, they are encouraging new building websites and offer 2 of their fonts for free if the website has 25000 hits or less per month.
Their fonts come from varying sources like Adobe and over 100 other such designers and that’s why they always have something fresh in store for you. Talking about the pricing, it’s pretty much affordable ranging from $0-$100 while their $49.99 is the most popular plan. They also provide you with the option to sync fonts to your desktop for personal use, really great
H&FJ WebFonts
Bentley is a car making company that sells some of the costliest cars in the world. The interior of their models is entirely hand-crafted with every little detail coming from the hands of an expert and that’s what they charge for. No matter how good the finishing of a machine is, it can’t match a hand-crafted design. Similar is the situation with H&FJ WebFonts. If you’re planning to design your website by hand-coding it, then you should buy its fonts from H&FJ WebFonts. No matter Typekit is good, but when it comes to detailing and minute curves & expressions, there is no par to H&FJ. They are a little costly starting from $99/year plan, but it’s worth of every single penny you spend.
Font Squirrel
If you’re starting your quest for some of the finest fonts available on the web, you can’t get a better start than this one. The website doesn’t cost you a penny and all the available fonts are free to use on your own website. But the website itself doesn’t support all the fonts and might work as a third party link for the original address where those fonts are available. So it might take you a little extra to find the hidden treasure but absolutely free. Also, there are some codes available which help you understand the conditions of legally using a commercial font for free. So it’s a cool place to hang out for the beginners and onlookers for some free fonts for their project.
Font Squirrel Font Generator
Though it’s a part of Font Squirrel, it’s a separate service with a very different meaning. Suppose you once owned a font which is not used nowadays but now you have a desire to use it in your website. The problem arises in the compatibility of that font with your website which restricts it to be used. In such as case, Font Squirrel Font Generator will help you with a very simple mechanism. All you have to do is just upload that font in the Generator and it’ll convert into a file which can be embedded into your website. But make sure that the font you’re uploading is licensed to be used online. And I forgot one thing, this service is also free.
Fontspring
There are many designers who doesn’t like the idea of subscription fee because at the end of the day, you’ll end up spending hundreds of dollars and gain nothing in terms of possession. For example, once you switch your font service, all the previous fonts will be lost. So it’s better to purchase a font permanently for a small fee and use it on your host website forever. This is the concept of Fontspring which has control over 180 foundaries of web fonts. They have a huge collection of online fonts including Museo Sans, Proxima Nova, etc and you can buy them starting from $5.
Google Fonts
If web is to be summarised into the world, then we can precisely say it to be “Google”. Yes, the tech giant has its roots in almost every part of the world via web. Though Google is mostly known for its search engine, there are many side services it provides and Google Fonts is just a part of that long list. But like any of their side-service, it’s not the best but not the worst as well. Google Fonts is absolutely free as they are all open source web fonts and can be used online as well but the font styles are not that much appealing as other services we just discussed. Still, you should definitely check out their store as well because what we may “yuck” you may “suck” very well.
Edge Web Fonts
Powered by Typekit and in partnership with Google, Adobe’s Edge Web Fonts certainly stand out in the quest of free web fonts. When it comes to Adobe, they never compromise with the quality and there are hundreds of such amazing fonts ready to be delivered at your doorstep. Also, using these fonts is as easy as Google Fonts and if you’re new to fonts and don’t know how to use them properly, you’ve come to the right place. So go ahead and check out their store now!
Fonts.com
Though you can find all sorts of typography at www.fonts.com, they have an exclusive collection of web fonts available on subscription plans. They already have many big names like Sony, Nike, IBM as their customers and the reason for their popularity is the availability of big names like Helvetica or Frutiger. These fonts have worked for many big companies and if you think they’ll work for you as well, you can definitely try www.fonts.com. Their subscription starts from free though you require a badge which is not compatible with 4K or retina display. So practically, starting price is $10/month and may range up to $100/month.
Fontdeck
If you’re planning to use only one or two fonts for your complete website, then having a subscription plan for tens of such fonts is a waste. Why to spend more when you can settle for little? Fontdeck allows you to pay for just what you want. They have a fixed price for every font. First, you can select your font by using it on the live website for free and after deciding, you may subscribe to their $7.50/font/year plan. It’s very simple to use and saves a lot of your money as well.
So here we are at the end of this chapter. If you can just go through the above mentioned websites, you’ll end up with bags full of fonts which will be sufficient for at least next ten of your projects. Go through them one by one depending upon whether you can afford to pay or want a free plan for now. So keep looking for any new fonts whenever you visit a website because the more you observe, the more you learn. Also, if you’ve any suggestions for any other such website which we might’ve missed, do write to us.
