It's funny that example site doesn't use one single built-in font I can understa...

bhaak · on Feb 7, 2013

On this system (Win 7, 8 GB RAM) with Firefox 18.0.2 I see that missing text effect even on reload.

In Firebug that Google returns a 304 for the Ubuntu font files but the browser is requesting the only about 3 s into loading the page. Really irritating.

After installing the font locally, it's gone.

pbhjpbhj · on Feb 7, 2013

The font files aren't that big either, and as you note are using googleapis.com.

The page is 600k and the fonts are ~160k; primed cache page-weight though is ~6k.

I wonder if the use of Ubuntu font really makes any difference to their users, A-B test would be interesting.

As Ubuntu is free wouldn't it be useful if the browser offered to install the font locally?

sgdesign · on Feb 7, 2013

Having a strong brand is not something you can measure via A/B testing, it's a long-term commitment.

pbhjpbhj · on Feb 7, 2013

Yes.

This wasn't clear.

>I wonder if the use of Ubuntu font really makes any difference to their users //

What I meant was I wondered if using Ubuntu had any negative effect. Personally I think it adds to the site but then I've Ubuntu font installed.