Ari Stathopoulos introduced a proposal for implementing an online fonts API in core WordPress. The purpose is to standardize how theme authors register and enqueue font types. It could additionally function the inspiration of different options down the highway.
Jono Alderson opened the unique ticket for such an API in February 2019. The dialogue has continued on and off since then however has solely just lately gained momentum.
The proposal would permit builders to register fonts from native recordsdata or a stylesheet URL like these supplied by Google Fonts and different third-party APIs. It could mirror the capabilities used for loading scripts and types with WordPress, so builders ought to transition with out a lot of a studying curve. Nevertheless, some parameters are completely different and account for the broader function vary essential to help internet fonts.
Loading internet fonts is nothing new for theme authors. There are a number of strategies to make use of, relying on whether or not the recordsdata are native or served by a third-party API. Nevertheless, WordPress has by no means supplied an answer, the closest factor to a typical being copying and pasting what the Twenty* themes had been doing. Nevertheless, varied tasks have popped up over time for dealing with a function that many theme authors implement virtually as a second thought.
Final yr, Stathopoulos and others from the WordPress Themes Staff launched the Webfonts Loader challenge, a drop-in library for builders. It allowed theme authors to load stylesheets from the Google Fonts API, then saved them regionally on the person’s server.
I even dabbled in a font-loading package deal at one time, constructing a easy set of capabilities to enqueue and dequeue font stylesheets. It was an thought constructed on high of a tutorial written by Jose Castaneda in 2016. Nevertheless, I’m at the moment borrowing the technique utilized in Automattic’s Blockbase theme, utilizing a mixture of capabilities.php and theme.json.
Loading fonts is a comparatively easy affair, so one would possibly surprise why there’s a want for a core API round doing it. It’s as a result of requirements simplify routine duties for everybody. When such conventions exist, each developer can have a look at a number of strains of code and instantly perceive what is occurring. It additionally permits us to construct new options on high of a strong basis sooner or later.
One factor to not overlook from the announcement is the point out of theme.json:
With the current developments in Gutenberg, global-styles, and an effort to consolidate choices and UIs within the site-editor, a Webfonts API is changing into a necessity as it is going to permit theme builders to outline fonts of their theme.json recordsdata.
Stathopoulos additionally famous within the pull request that after this patch makes it by, the subsequent step can be submitting a brand new ticket for registering internet fonts when parsing theme.json.
The theme JSON file is the underlying code for the worldwide types system that increasingly more customers shall be interacting with within the months and years to return. If we construct a font-loading API now, it offers us room to discover. It could even open up future integrations inside the person interface within the backend.
I’m not positive what that may appear like but, however it is going to pave the best way for a savvy theme writer to experiment with new person experiences round fonts.
There doesn’t appear to be a technique to register industrial fonts from APIs like Adobe Fonts. Nevertheless, Stathopoulos famous final yr that it is perhaps a chance. “Including an additional argument in one of many calls to permit tweaking the request headers (and due to this fact permit API authentication) is one thing we are able to undoubtedly do,” he commented on the unique ticket.
I just like the proposal. There is perhaps a number of kinks to work out, however the extra we standardize these widespread options, the higher. It creates much less work for theme authors, permitting them to focus extra on nailing down their designs.