What is Web font loading?
Also called: font-display, FOUT, FOIT
The short answer
Web font loading is how a page fetches and swaps in custom fonts; done badly it hides text or shifts layout, done well text shows immediately and swaps smoothly.
Web font loading, explained
Self-host fonts, subset them, preload the one used above the fold, use font-display: swap and match fallback metrics to avoid layout shift.
Questions people ask about Web font loading
What is Web font loading?
Web font loading is how a page fetches and swaps in custom fonts; done badly it hides text or shifts layout, done well text shows immediately and swaps smoothly.
Related terms
Typography is the choice and arrangement of type, meaning fonts, sizes, weights, line length and spacing, to make text readable and give a site its voice.
Cumulative Layout ShiftCumulative Layout Shift measures how much page content moves unexpectedly while loading; good is below 0.1.
Render-blocking resourcesRender-blocking resources are stylesheets and scripts the browser must download and process before it can draw the page, delaying the first paint.
Page speedPage speed is how quickly a web page loads and becomes usable, measured by metrics like Largest Contentful Paint, Interaction to Next Paint and layout stability.
Part of the Web Encyclopedia by Apex Flow Digital. Definitions are general knowledge, kept current, with no invented statistics.