Google Fonts: how to use all styles

denisp
38 Posts
denisp posted this 06 July 2017

Hello,

I noticed that in the code of my web page (joomla website) I get this code

<link class="" href='//fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Prata:regular|Montserrat:regular,700&subset=latin' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'>

This means that I can use Prata font regular size, and Montserrat font regular and bold.
Ok, now I have to set all my fonts Monteserrat to be displayed in Light / Lighter style but I cannot set them with this style
because it is not downloaded.

So, right now, I solve this adding this line:

<link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Montserrat:300,400,700" rel="stylesheet">

in the ADDITIONAL HEAD HTML, but it is not a best practice.
I force to download twice the family set and this has a bad impact on SEO.

So please, consider to solve this issue. I think somethink like the possibility to choose the styles to download exactly how Google Fonts do this. In this way the family set to download can be managed by the user

And please, check also the right link, that is
href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/

meanwhile themler outputs
href='//fonts.googleapis.com/

thanks in advance
denis

Hello, I noticed that in the code of my web page (joomla website) I get this code <link class="" href='//fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Prata:regular|Montserrat:regular,700&subset=latin' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'> This means that I can use Prata font regular size, and Montserrat font regular and bold. Ok, now I have to set all my fonts Monteserrat to be displayed in Light / Lighter style but I cannot set them with this style because it is not downloaded. So, right now, I solve this adding this line: <link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Montserrat:300,400,700" rel="stylesheet"> in the ADDITIONAL HEAD HTML, but it is not a best practice. I force to download twice the family set and this has a bad impact on SEO. So please, consider to solve this issue. I think somethink like the possibility to choose the styles to download exactly how Google Fonts do this. In this way the family set to download can be managed by the user And please, check also the right link, that is `href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/` meanwhile themler outputs `href='//fonts.googleapis.com/` thanks in advance denis
Joomla google-fonts
Vote to pay developers attention to this features or issue.
2 Comments
Order By: Standard | Newest
pvcmloza
152 Posts
pvcmloza posted this 17 August 2025

You're absolutely right in identifying the inefficiency in loading the same font family multiple times, which can negatively impact SEO and performance. If you need to display Montserrat Light, but it's not included in your original link, the best solution is to customize your font import efficiently https://creativefonts.org/ —just like you would when you download free fonts from Google Fonts with specific weights included.

You're absolutely right in identifying the inefficiency in loading the same font family multiple times, which can negatively impact SEO and performance. If you need to display Montserrat Light, but it's not included in your original link, the best solution is to customize your font import efficiently https://creativefonts.org/ —just like you would when you download free fonts from Google Fonts with specific weights included.
alexarafatonline
126 Posts
alexarafatonline posted this 4 weeks ago

Yeah, I’ve run into a similar issue with Google Fonts in Joomla before. The problem is that the theme is only loading specific weights, so if Light (300) isn’t included in the initial request, the browser simply can’t use it properly. Your workaround works, but as you said, it’s not ideal because it causes duplicate requests and can slightly impact performance.

Best practice would be to consolidate everything into one request like:
Montserrat:300,400,700 + Prata in a single optimized call, and ensure the theme doesn’t enqueue fonts twice. Also, switching everything to https:// instead of protocol-relative URLs is definitely safer and more modern.

While cleaning up typography on a project, I was also experimenting with text styles using letrassbonitas to visualize how different font weights change the look of content—it really helps you understand how much typography affects design consistency.

Yeah, I’ve run into a similar issue with Google Fonts in Joomla before. The problem is that the theme is only loading specific weights, so if Light (300) isn’t included in the initial request, the browser simply can’t use it properly. Your workaround works, but as you said, it’s not ideal because it causes duplicate requests and can slightly impact performance. Best practice would be to consolidate everything into one request like: Montserrat:300,400,700 + Prata in a single optimized call, and ensure the theme doesn’t enqueue fonts twice. Also, switching everything to https:// instead of protocol-relative URLs is definitely safer and more modern. While cleaning up typography on a project, I was also experimenting with text styles using [letrassbonitas][1] to visualize how different font weights change the look of content—it really helps you understand how much typography affects design consistency. [1]: https://letrassbonitas.com/
You must log in or register to leave comments