Testing... Testing... New fonts from Google

Last week google released 18 fonts along with instructions on how to embed them into web pages and get free from the "usual suspects" of Times Roman, Arial, Verdana, and (God no!) Comic Sans.

A number of Web designers -- if not all readers -- are excited that newer browsers support downloadable fonts so sites can use more than the handful that it's safe to assume are installed already on people's computers.

For every eyeball-searing grunge font and blood-pressure-raising instance of Comic Sans, there's a tasteful use of an artful logo or distinctive text.

But font licensing rules mean a Web designer can't necessarily upload any old font for a site. This is where Google's move, announced at its Google I/O conference, comes in. The company released 18 fonts and also announced an interface that lets Web sites use them.

I took a wild hair and decided to try it. Surprise! It works. The blog title text and the post titles are now displayed in the “IM Fell English SC” font. I may play around a bit more, especially if more fonts show up as available for free. So do not adjust your set, we know what we are doing.