Significant UX issue on Google Fonts website

[Gitoffthelawn]

Like many Google products, the Google Fonts website has a significant UX issue that likely has frustrated many people.

What's one of the most common tasks users want to perform when visiting the Google Fonts website? To download fonts.

How visible is UI to accomplish this common task for icon fonts on the Google Fonts website? Not at all.

What steps does the user currently need to take to accomplish this task?

1. Employ magic/telepathy by somehow realizing that the essential download option is hidden off-screen.
2. Click the horizontal scroller arrow to reveal this important functionality.
3. Click the now-revealed Download Material Symbols or Download Material Icons button.

Recommendation:
Take the essential functionality out of the horizontal scroller, where it is hidden by default. Or if you must have it in a horizontally scrolling menu, make it the first item, so it is never hidden.

[vv-monsalve]

Hi @Gitoffthelawn, thanks for report.

I can confirm that the icon font download option differs from the standard Fonts tab. However, the UI team likely deliberately decided to do it this way.

I'm cc'ing @nathan-williams here as he might have a better answer.

[Gitoffthelawn]

@vv-monsalve Hi Viviana! You're welcome. Having it different is odd, so I too am interested in hearing their response.

Independent from being different or not, do you agree the function needs to be visible and obvious?

[vv-monsalve]

It would be easy to jump into an opinion here. However, I've learned that many times, it's better to ask and confirm the reasons behind it. Turns out that, in many cases, there are good ones.

Now, having said that, yes, under typical standards, you'd expect that option to be more visible. But, again, Material Icons or Symbols are far from a standard case :)

Let's wait and hear from the Eng team.