How to use Google Fonts in React? - GeeksforGeeks (2024)

Last Updated : 29 May, 2024

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Google Fonts is a widely used popular library of open-source web fonts that provides a vast collection of typefaces to enhance the visual appeal of web applications. Google Fonts provides a vast collection of free and high-quality fonts that can easily be integrated into your React applications.

In this React Google Fonts article, we will cover different methods to add custom fonts (Google font) to your React application. Before adding custom fonts to your project, you should be familiar with the concepts below.

Prerequisites

React JS
Styled components

Why Use Google Fonts?

Google Fonts offers several benefits:

Wide Selection: Access to over 1,000 fonts.
Free to Use: No licensing fees.
Easy Integration: Simple to incorporate into any web project.
Performance: Optimized for fast loading and performance.

Steps to Add Google Fonts to Your React Project

There are different methods to add custom fonts to your React Project:

Table of Content

Manually add Google fonts
Using styled-components Library
Using @import inside CSS

Manually add Google fonts

Manually add Google Fonts in React by including the link tag with the Google Fonts URL in the public/index.html file’s <head> section, then apply the font using CSS in React components.

Steps to Manually use Google Fonts in React:

Step 1:Select a Google Font from their website.

Visit the link- Browse Fonts - Google Fonts and select the font you want to add. Here we are using the Monsterrat Font for instance.

Step 2:Integrating the font into React

Copy the <link> tag of the font intothe public/index.html file of your React app to use in our project:

<link rel=”preconnect” href=”https://fonts.googleapis.com”>
<link rel=”preconnect” href=”https://fonts.gstatic.com” crossorigin>
<link href=”https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Montserrat:wght@500&display=swap” rel=”stylesheet”>

Step 3: Use the Imported Fonts

body {
 font-family: 'Montserrat', sans-serif;
}

Example 1: The below example demonstrates the use of Google fonts in specific react elements.

HTML

<!-- Filename - public/inedx.html --><!DOCTYPE html><html lang="en"><head> <meta charset="utf-8" /> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /> <link rel="preconnect" href="https://fonts.googleapis.com"> <link rel="preconnect" href="https://fonts.gstatic.com" crossorigin> <link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Montserrat:wght@500&display=swap" rel="stylesheet"> <title>React App</title></head><body> <div id="root"></div></body></html>

CSS

/* Filename: styles.css */.App { text-align: center;}.gfg { color: green;}.font-container { font-family: "Montserrat", sans-serif;}.text { font-size: 30px;}

JavaScript

// Filename - App.jsimport "./styles.css";export default function App() { return ( <div className="App"> <h1 className="gfg">GeeksforGeeks</h1> <h2>How to use Google fonts in React JS</h2> <div className="font-container"> <p className="text"> This text is written in Monsterrat Font from Google Fonts{" "} </p> </div> </div> );}

Step to run the application: Open the terminal and type the following command.

npm start

Output:

Using styled-components Library

Utilize the styled-components library in React to apply Google Fonts by defining component styles and specifying the desired font-family property using the font import syntax.

To Install the Required Module, use this command in the terminal

npm i styled-components

The Updated dependencies in package.json file.

"dependencies": {
 "@testing-library/jest-dom": "^5.17.0",
 "@testing-library/react": "^13.4.0",
 "@testing-library/user-event": "^13.5.0",
 "react": "^18.2.0",
 "react-dom": "^18.2.0",
 "react-scripts": "5.0.1",
 "styled-components": "^6.1.1",
 "web-vitals": "^2.1.4"
},

Example 2: This example demonstrates the usage of the styled-components library in the React app.

Using @import inside CSS

Directly import the required fonts in the CSS file using the @import command

CSS

/* Filename: styles.css */@import url('https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Comfortaa:wght@300');

Step 2: Use the Imported Fonts

body {
 font-family: 'Comfortaa', sans-serif;
}

Step to run the application: Open the terminal and type the following command.

npm start

Common Errors While Using Custom Font in React

Some common errors faced by developers while adding custom fonts to their React projects are:

1. Font Not Found or not loading

Custom font may not be applied to the application because of font file error. Check if the font file path is correct and if the font file is imported correctly.

2. Using Unsupported Font Formats

React primarily supports .ttf and .otf files. Make sure to convert unsupported file types before adding them to your project.

3. Font Loading Delay

Initially, the application displays default fonts and later changes it to the custom font. You can try optimizing fonts or preloading them.

4. Performance Issues

Large custom font files can impact the application’s performance. Make sure to compress large font files before using or using font optimization.

5. Platform Specific Errors

Each platform (android and IOS ) has different font handling operations. Some fonts may not be compatible with Android or IOS. Follow specific guidelines for each platform.

Conclusion

Integrating Google Fonts into your React project is a straightforward process that can significantly enhance the visual appeal of your application. By following the steps outlined in this guide, you can easily add any Google Font to your React app and customize it to fit your design needs.

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