How to minimize the delay in loading the Font Awesome icons? - css

I have linked the minified CSS of Font Awesome from Bootstrap CDN in a webpage. The problem is that the icons appear later than the rest of the page content after a visible delay.
What is the best way to get rid of this delay? (FYI, I have already included this CSS file above every other CSS and JS link in the head.)

The minified css would not make much of a difference in load time. That font awesome css file references the paths to external font files that will load in after the page loads. You can see the delay on font awesome's website: https://fortawesome.github.io/Font-Awesome/icons/
#font-face {
font-family: 'FontAwesome';
src: url('../fonts/fontawesome-webfont.eot?v=4.5.0');
src: url('../fonts/fontawesome-webfont.eot?#iefix&v=4.5.0') format('embedded-opentype'), url('../fonts/fontawesome-webfont.woff2?v=4.5.0') format('woff2'), url('../fonts/fontawesome-webfont.woff?v=4.5.0') format('woff'), url('../fonts/fontawesome-webfont.ttf?v=4.5.0') format('truetype'), url('../fonts/fontawesome-webfont.svg?v=4.5.0#fontawesomeregular') format('svg');
font-weight: normal;
font-style: normal;
}
You could base64 encode the fonts and include them right in your site's css. This would substantially increase your site's css load time, but it would get rid of the flash. Although it might not work in all browsers and I would not recommend it.
You could try hosting the font awesome css and fonts directly on your server. The CDN might be the cause of the latency.

I resolved the issue by self hosting the icons, this is described at https://fontawesome.com/docs/web/setup/host-yourself/webfonts

Try to change url() to data-uri()
LESS:
data-uri('../fonts/fontawesome-webfont.woff2?v=4.5.0') format('woff2'),
http://lesscss.org/functions/#misc-functions-data-uri

Related

Combined CSS file functionality

I'm trying to reduce the http requests on my website by combining multiple CSS files. I'm copying and pasting them in the order they are right now when it all works but when I try using this giant combined CSS file certain icons aren't showing up. The problem seems to be with a font-awesome CSS file, as when I separate that out the icons show up.
I thought that multiple CSS files functioned exactly the same as if you were to combine them in order but this does not seem to be the case for me. I don't know whether maybe it's because the combined CSS file is too big (466 kb) or that I'm combining minified and normal files, I've checked that all the selectors are the exact same but it's not showing the same specific icons.
Is there something about combining CSS files that I'm missing?
Font Awesome makes reference to a fonts directory where the font files are stored. In your combined CSS file you will need to make sure that either the fonts folder is still in the right spot relative to your CSS file or you will need to alter the path to the fonts that font awesome is using.
Below is the snippet Font Awesome uses to reference the fonts. You may need to change the ../fonts/ to ./fonts/ if your stylesheet and fonts folder are in the same directory.
#font-face {
font-family: 'FontAwesome';
src: url('../fonts/fontawesome-webfont.eot?v=4.5.0');
src: url('../fonts/fontawesome-webfont.eot?#iefix&v=4.5.0') format('embedded-opentype'), url('../fonts/fontawesome-webfont.woff2?v=4.5.0') format('woff2'), url('../fonts/fontawesome-webfont.woff?v=4.5.0') format('woff'), url('../fonts/fontawesome-webfont.ttf?v=4.5.0') format('truetype'), url('../fonts/fontawesome-webfont.svg?v=4.5.0#fontawesomeregular') format('svg');
font-weight: normal;
font-style: normal;
}
Normally the CSS for font awesome is stored in a CSS folder. So the CSS tries to find fonts in the fonts folder one level higher than the CSS.
You can try with minifier CSS. you have to reduce the weight this way.
check link: CSS minifier

how to prevent #font-face to use local files instead of server files?

Visiting a website i have found out the menu links were abnormally bolder than wile watching the same page from my collegue computer with same browser.
Deleting the corresponding font from my windows font folder corrected the difference.
My question is how preventing this possibility when designing css fonts on a website
Most #font-face at-rules begin with a local(name-of-local-file) and then a reference to your distant url(/on/server/teh-webfont.woff).
Browsers will try, in this typical situation, to use the local file and if they find nothing will continue by downloading from your server the distant asset. If they find a local matching font, then they'll use it immediately and will stop their search of a font thus they won't download and use your distant asset.
Conclusion: don't use local() and only keep those url(). It's the contrary of this SO answer
Example without local() and many url() corresponding to many formats. Browsers will download the first one that please them, not 2+ of them:
#font-face {
font-family: 'Gudea';
src: url('./fonts/gudea/Gudea-Regular-webfont.eot');
src: url('./fonts/gudea/Gudea-Regular-webfont.eot?#iefix') format('embedded-opentype'),
url('./fonts/gudea/Gudea-Regular-webfont.woff2') format('woff2'),
url('./fonts/gudea/Gudea-Regular-webfont.woff') format('woff'),
url('./fonts/gudea/Gudea-Regular-webfont.ttf') format('truetype'),
url('./fonts/gudea/Gudea-Regular-webfont.svg#gudearegular') format('svg');
font-weight: normal;
font-style: normal;
}
Download the font .ttf
Saving the font in a folder in your web site
For call font use this code in css:
#font-face {
font-family: "YourFont";
src: url('font/YourFont.ttf');
}
.example{
font-family: YourFont, sans-serif;
}

#font-type doesn't load on mobile and IE (wordpress despite correct CSS)

Hi guys I've done a fair amount of digging and this persistent problem is driving me insane.
I can't get my font-type to load for mobile and IE.
My site is http://kays.vurb.us/
I am talking about the hamburger icon when in responsive mode. It uses the letter 'a' with a special font 'etmodules'.
This is how my css looks like:
#font-face {
font-family: 'etmodules';
src: url('etmodules_v2_4.eot');
src: url('etmodules_v2_4.eot?#iefix') format('embedded-opentype'),
url('etmodules_v2_4.woff2') format('woff2'),
url('etmodules_v2_4.woff') format('woff'),
url('etmodules_v2_4.ttf') format('truetype'),
url('etmodules_v2_4.svg#etmodules_v2_4regular') format('svg');
font-weight: normal;
font-style: normal;
}
I put the files in my main wordpress directory. I don't know what I am doing wrong. Since it doesn't work on IE and mobile I tried looking at the IE developer tools but I can't figure out why the font won'
t download or load on the site. Please help me :(
Create a new folder called fonts or any name you want inside your theme folder, then upload your font files inside that folder
Then use absolute path e.g
src: url(http://www.example.com/wp-content/themes/your-theme/fonts/Arvo-Regular.ttf);

Issue with using font with #font-face declaration and in general with applications

#font-face {
font-family: iconFont;
src: local(iconFont), url('fonts/iconFont.ttf') format('opentype');
}
The font file is not corrupt and installs fine in OSX etc. letting me preview it. But it won't render anything when I try to use it on a web page or even if I select it in illustrator it just switches to another font if I touch any key.
The font is for 'regular' and I have tried other options, but it won't work. Have tried typing with caps on/off etc. Using numpad, nothing. Have re-installed it and made sure there are no duplicates. It also won't work in Windows. Not sure if I need to change my css somehow or the fault lays with the font.
Here's a link to the font for anyone wanting to try. It's a bunch of metro icons. http://www2.zippyshare.com/v/23494573/file.html
Not sure if this will help, but this is the CSS I use, and it works fine. The webfonts directory is in the same directory as the css file, and includes three file types: .eot .ttf .woff
#font-face {
font-family: 'AvenirLT-Book';
src: url('webfonts/25EE2B_0_0.eot');
src: url('webfonts/25EE2B_0_0.eot?#iefix') format('embedded-opentype'), url('webfonts/25EE2B_0_0.woff') format('woff'), url('webfonts/25EE2B_0_0.ttf') format('truetype');
}
a typical class decleration:
.AvenirLT-Book {
font-family: AvenirLT-Book;
font-weight: normal;
font-style: normal;
}
perhaps you need to change the format to ('truetype') instead of ('opentype') ?

Using custom fonts using CSS?

I've seen some new websites that are using custom fonts on their sites (other than the regular Arial, Tahoma, etc.).
And they support a nice amount of browsers.
How does one do that? While also preventing people from having free access to download the font, if possible.
Generically, you can use a custom font using #font-face in your CSS. Here's a very basic example:
#font-face {
font-family: 'YourFontName'; /*a name to be used later*/
src: url('http://domain.example/fonts/font.ttf'); /*URL to font*/
}
Then, trivially, to use the font on a specific element:
.classname {
font-family: 'YourFontName';
}
(.classname is your selector).
Note that certain font-formats don't work on all browsers; you can use fontsquirrel.com's generator to avoid too much effort converting.
You can find a nice set of free web-fonts provided by Google Fonts (also has auto-generated CSS #font-face rules, so you don't have to write your own).
while also preventing people from having free access to download the font, if possible
Nope, it isn't possible to style your text with a custom font embedded via CSS, while preventing people from downloading it. You need to use images, Flash, or the HTML5 Canvas, all of which aren't very practical.
To make sure that your font is cross-browser compatible, make sure that you use this syntax:
#font-face {
font-family: 'Comfortaa Regular';
src: url('Comfortaa.eot');
src: local('Comfortaa Regular'),
local('Comfortaa'),
url('Comfortaa.ttf') format('truetype'),
url('Comfortaa.svg#font') format('svg');
}
Taken from here.
You have to download the font file and load it in your CSS.
F.e. I'm using the Yanone Kaffeesatz font in my Web Application.
I load and use it via
#font-face {
font-family: "Yanone Kaffeesatz";
src: url("../fonts/YanoneKaffeesatz-Regular.ttf");
}
in my stylesheet.
Today there are four font container formats in use on the web: EOT, TTF, WOFF,andWOFF2.
Unfortunately, despite the wide range of choices, there isn't a single universal format that works across all old and new browsers:
EOT is IE only,
TTF has partial IE support,
WOFF enjoys the widest support but is not available in some older browsers
WOFF 2.0 support is a work in progress for many browsers.
If you want your web app to have the same font across all browsers then you might want to provide all 4 font type in CSS
#font-face {
font-family: 'besom'; !important
src: url('fonts/besom/besom.eot');
src: url('fonts/besom/besom.eot?#iefix') format('embedded-opentype'),
url('fonts/besom/besom.woff2') format('woff2'),
url('fonts/besom/besom.woff') format('woff'),
url('fonts/besom/besom.ttf') format('truetype'),
url('fonts/besom/besom.svg#besom_2regular') format('svg');
font-weight: normal;
font-style: normal;
}
If you dont find any fonts that you like from Google.com/webfonts or fontsquirrel.com you can always make your own web font with a font you made.
here's a nice tutorial: Make your own font face web font kit
Although im not sure about preventing someone from downloading your font.
Hope this helps,
there's also an interesting tool called CUFON. There's a demonstration of how to use it in this blog
It's really simple and interesting. Also, it doesn't allow people to ctrl+c/ctrl+v the generated content.
I am working on Win 8, use this code. It works for IE and FF, Opera, etc.
What I understood are : woff font is light et common on Google fonts.
Go here to convert your ttf font to woff before.
#font-face
{
font-family:'Open Sans';
src:url('OpenSans-Regular.woff');
}
First of all, you can't prevent people from downloading fonts except if it is yours and that usually takes months.
And it makes no sense to prevent people from using fonts.
A lot of fonts that you see on websites can be found on free platforms like the one I mentioned below.
But if you want to implement a font into your website read this:
There is a pretty simple and free way to implement fonts into your website.
I would recommend Google fonts because it is free and easy to use.
For example, I'll use the Bangers font from Google.(https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Bangers?query=bangers&sidebar.open&selection.family=Bangers)
This is how it would look like:
HTML
<head>
<link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Bangers&display=swap" rel="stylesheet">
</head>
CSS
body {
font-family: 'Bangers', cursive;
}

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