One of the issues with website design is the use of fonts.  A web designer can specify a specific font or font family for a web page but unless the user has that font or font family on his local computer the font will not display and the  user will see a different font as determined by the user's browser.  Normally designers specify several options and usually the user has one of the options especially if the designer specifies font families rather then a specific font but even doing this the designer's page may not be displayed as designed.

While both Microsoft and Apple developed font technology that allowed fonts to be downloaded to be displayed in web pages so the page could be viewed in the font determined by the designer, because of licensing issues none of the technologies  gained wide acceptance.  Well Google has released the Google Font API and several open-source fonts that allow for downloadable fonts to be embedded into web pages without licensing issuees.

The Google Font API is compatible with the following browsers:

• Google Chrome: version 4.249.4+
• Mozilla Firefox: version: 3.5+
• Apple Safari: version 3.1+
• Opera: version 10.5+
• Microsoft Internet Explorer: version 6+

While the font library is not vast it is a move in the right direction and as the library increases the use of fonts becomes easier for the web designer.