Typekit quietly updates its service with performance fixes for all users

One of my favorite things happening on the Web right now is the growing relevance of typography. There are multiple ways of embedding live type onto your site (to avoid the over-use of Helvetica, Arial, Georgia, etc), including self-hosting fonts and using @font-face, but font licensing have yet to evolve to a point where this is easily and affordably done.

This is why Typekit has left such an impression on the Web. It’s an affordable solution for designers, while foundries and technologists are busy trying to agree on rational font licensing standards. With Typekit’s service in mind, the company has today updated its embed code with a number of performance improvements that solidify the service as a promising solution.

Here’s what’s new: protocol relative URLs, a new domain and official asynchronous embed code.

In human-speak, this means that Typekit will now default to http or https, depending on whichever protocol your site uses, it will optionally use Typekit.net (instead of .com) to ensure cookies aren’t used unnecessarily, and there is now a new way to prevent that annoying flash of un-styled text for advanced users.

These updates can be taken advantage of by generating and pasting in the new embed code, but if you’re already happy with your service, there’s probably no need to fuss with it. As a personal user of Typekit, I’ll be updating my sites later today.

If you’re interested in Typekit’s service, check it out via the link below. If you are, on the other hand, looking for a free and easy way to dive into custom typography, check out Google Web Fonts, which can be used in surprisingly impressive ways.

➤ Typekit