Technical Test Follow-up
Posted on December 27, 2020 Posted by John Scalzi 7 Comments
Basically, Google Chrome changed the way it caches images and information from the internet, which is generally a good thing — it means the browser is marginally more secure — but as a result using web fonts is kind of broken. Pages don’t necessarily show up in the typefaces I’ve chosen for them, even after I clear the cache and do a hard reload of the page. I was checking to see if changing the typefaces would have an effect one way or another, and the answer is: No, not really. What the actual solution is: Downloading the typefaces I’m using as my headline and body typeface and putting them in my local font folder so they show up every time.
If you have noticed that the typefaces on Whatever have been a bit erratic in the last month, here are the ones I am using so you can download them for yourself and have a more consistent experience: Abril Fatface for the headline typeface, and Libre Baskerville for the body text. Both are available for free at Google Fonts.
Also, on the mobile side of things, and as a response for the folks who were having difficulty posting comments, I’ve reverted the mobile theme back to a variation of the desktop theme, which is AMP compatible in any event. I may change this again at some point in the future but for now everything should be functioning just fine.
That concludes site tweaking for now. More updates when necessary and/or inevitable.
— JS
Also, the typefaces on mobile may vary, again, depending on your ability to get the typefaces I’m assigning.
Did you mean Libre Baskerville instead of Libra Baskerville?
The former is there on google fonts, the latter … not so much.
On my Android phone with both mobile and desktop flavors of the site, I’m seeing some default sans-serif font in both headline and body (just larger for the headline).
the site shows up correctly for me (but I may already have those fonts locally – I am an admitted fontaholic
It’s the words I like reading. The fonts being served up to me may or may not be what you planned, but they’re pleasant and readable, and to me, that’s the important thing. I can read Whatever! Yay!
The hamburger menu doesn’t open for me in safari or Firefox for mobile on iOS 14.3
It seems all browsers are going that way. The next Firefox will compartmentalize the cache so that every page that wants to use a font will have to download it separately. No more shared caches. That’s a security thing, certainly, and probably a good thing in the end. The idea is to cut down on tracking. But it would sure be nice if they would give you some warning. Here’s an article on the Firefox version:
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/12/firefox-v85-will-improve-its-cache-partitioning-for-stronger-privacy/