My Go-To Sans Serif Web Fonts


Here are my 5 of my favorite free typefaces for websites at the moment, in no particular order. All are good for dealing with different styles and are available for free.


Radio Canada

CBC/Radio-Canada is Canada’s national public broadcaster, and they had this font designed by Charles Dauad in 2017. While ultra-readable and friendly-looking, it’s an underused option. My website, timeaton.dev, uses it for all content. I just love the little details like the angled tops of the l and t.

Radio Canada font preview

Font.download: https://font.download/font/radio-canada-2
Google: https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Radio+Canada
Great view of different uses by the designer: https://www.charlesdaoud.com/en/custom-fonts/radio-canada-typeface


Karla

This is a modern Arial-like font, very readable and impressionable. I use it for my resume, and some older versions of this site. A few years ago it was very trendy, but it’s still great.

Karla font preview

Font.download: https://font.download/font/karla
Google: https://fonts.google.com/?query=karla


iAWriter Quattro S

This is based on an IBM font but is mostly recognizable from the writing program writer. I love it because it looks friendly yet technical, especially the zeros. I use it for my creative writing blog, Mostly True, which adds to the type of stories I tell.

iAWriter Quattro S font preview

Font.download: https://font.download/font/ia-writer-quattro-s


Poppins

Another trendy font right now on the web, Poppins gives a nice, rounded, open feel. You can’t go wrong with this one for a user-friendly, readable font for your business site with this.

Poppins font preview

Font.download: https://font.download/font/poppins
Google: https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Poppins


Space Grotesk

This one makes me feel like a 1980s Lego astronaut (I really need a Halloween costume of that). It’s great for that retro-futuristic feel for tech writing or products. All it needs is something like Moonspace for the titling.

Space Grotesk font preview

Google: https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Space+Grotesk


Hope you enjoy these fonts! And always remember to optimize them for speed