[Support request] Font appears different in 'customise' to real site

[Faye]

Hi there,

I’ve changed the header font to be Open Sans, and I’m using semi bold and light (600, 300) as the weight.

In customise view the font looks exactly as I want it to.
However when I save and view the site outside of customise, the fonts are heavier.

This shows the customise view next to the real site -can you see the difference?

What could be causing this difference, and can I fix it?

Any insight appreciated!

Thanks.

[Tom]

Any chance you can link me to your site?

Do you have Open Sans installed on your computer by chance? Sometimes if that’s the case the site will use your computer version of the font which might be different than Google (although that should happen in the Customizer as well..).

Documentation: http://docs.generatepress.com/
Adding CSS: http://docs.generatepress.com/article/adding-css/
Ongoing Development: https://generatepress.com/ongoing-development

[Faye]

This is running on my machine (local server), so I can’t send you to it, I’m afraid.

I do have open sans installed, so I will look into that and see if it’s the cause… does an installed font take priority over the typography settings in generate press?

[Tom]

Yes, I do believe the font installed on the system takes priority. So it’s possible that you have Open Sans on your computer, but don’t have all of the weights (thin, regular, bold etc..).

You can try downloading all of the font weights for Open Sans and adding them to your computer, or removing the font completely.

Let me know 🙂

Documentation: http://docs.generatepress.com/
Adding CSS: http://docs.generatepress.com/article/adding-css/
Ongoing Development: https://generatepress.com/ongoing-development

[Faye]

Hmm. Okay – so it turns out I don’t have Open Sans installed (I thought I did as I use it often). I checked two other sites I’m building and the heavier font issue doesn’t appear between customiser and browser view. For those two sites I am creating a bespoke design on bare framework and I have put the font files on the local webserver, so they will always render correctly (all of these sites are on my local machine and mid-build).

Going back to the original site I’ve the set the text to be normal weight, and selected two fonts I have never used and do not have. In generatepress the font is still heavier in the browser view than in the customiser view.

I know this is a small issue, and I could adjust the weight down in generate press, but what if other browsers then display it too light? I suppose I just want to understand why there is a difference. Does this happen on your machine? (I am using safari).

[Tom]

I can’t seem to reproduce it – what happens if you use Chrome? Same issue?

Documentation: http://docs.generatepress.com/
Adding CSS: http://docs.generatepress.com/article/adding-css/
Ongoing Development: https://generatepress.com/ongoing-development

[Faye]

In Chrome the customise view and normal view are the same. Both display the heavier text version.

Interestingly when I compare the font (open sans, semibold) on the google font page, with the customise view (all done in chrome), the google font also appears lighter, just like the safari customise view (and indeed in my illustrator file, which is why I am so hung up on this as it just doesn’t look like the original design).

I have spent ages trying to work out why the font is being rendered heavier on the site, and I’ve stripped back everything, but I am none the wiser. I think I’m going to have to live with a heavier font in this theme unless I am struck with inspiration in the middle of the night (it does happen!).

I will update if I discover the cause…!!

[Tom]

It would be great if you could get the site up on a live server at some point so I can see it first hand. If you do end up making it live let me know 🙂

Documentation: http://docs.generatepress.com/
Adding CSS: http://docs.generatepress.com/article/adding-css/
Ongoing Development: https://generatepress.com/ongoing-development

[Faye]

Thanks Tom. It’s due for delivery in the New Year – I’ll keep you updated 🙂

[Author]

Posts