Bringing expressive, performant typography to Microsoft Edge with Variable Fonts

For years, rich typography has been the envy of many web designers, who long for the typographic variety, texture, and precision available in print media. Now, with the recent innovations of OpenType Variable Fonts―pioneered in collaboration between Microsoft, Adobe, Apple, Google, and others―and new standards allowing for developers to control font variations in CSS, things are about to change.

Animation of the phrase "A single font" cycling through different styles, sizes, and weights.

In this example from our Variable Fonts demo, the Decovar font is animated along an astounding 15 axes using variable fonts.

Full support for Variable Fonts (including CSS font-variation-settings and font-optical-sizing) is coming to Microsoft Edge starting with EdgeHTML 17, available to preview in Windows Insider Preview builds as of Build 17120. To demonstrate how variable fonts enable expressive, performant experiences, we’ve built a new immersive developer guide on Test Drive: Variable Fonts.

Image of an iceberg labelled "Variable fonts: An exploration of expressive, performant typography."

Join us on an expedition to learn about Variable Fonts, and how to use them on your site.

Join us on an expedition to learn about what variable fonts provide web developers and designers, and how to use them on your site. For the best experience, visit the Test Drive in a modern browser that supports font-variation-settings and font-optical-sizing, such as Microsoft Edge on Windows Insider Preview build 17120 or higher.

― Greg, Melanie, and Francois

Source: Bringing expressive, performant typography to Microsoft Edge with Variable Fonts