ChromeOS uses a new default font – and surprisingly, I don’t hate it
Google has a big change in store for ChromeOS users: a new default font for the operating system, which will replace Roboto as the default font on all Chrome devices.
The new default font is Google Sans (formerly known as Product Sans), owned by the best Chromebooks will already be familiar with it, even unconsciously; it’s already spread across both Google’s operating system and websites, appearing in the Files app and Quick Settings menu, as well as Google’s own digital store.
If font changes are something that worries you (yes, I worry about them; yes, I’m a huge software interface nerd), then luckily there’s no need to panic here: Google Sans is a pretty innocent font, far from it That other Sans font which almost everyone hates. In fact, it’s very similar to existing standard Roboto, or fonts like San Francisco and Open Sans, to the point where an unaware user might not even notice the change.
Chrome, without Roboto
Changing the primary font of an entire operating system is no small feat; there was a lot of commotion among font fanatics at the time Microsoft has changed Word’s default font from Calibri to Aptos after a term of 17 years. Personally, I’m quite averse to change, and while I approved of the shift from Times New Roman (ugh) at the time, I felt the move from Calibri to Aptos was unnecessary. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right?
Well, Roboto isn’t broke, but I can understand why Google wants to make the change to its own brand typography. Google San is a good font; After all, they are the letters with which the search engine giant has introduced itself on official public materials, so I can reasonably assume that a lot of money and many, many hours of work have gone into ensuring its perfection. It’s a pleasantly modern font, mainly opting for a lowercase ‘g’ with an open tail – none of that awful loop-tail stuff here, thank you very much. Yes, I know we use it here on Ny Breaking, and you’re looking at it right now. No, I’m not happy about it, but you have to choose your battles.
Considering that Google Sans is already in many corners of ChromeOS, it’s probably not an earth-shattering change for most users. But my fellow letter fanatics can relax; This isn’t even a big step for those who pay close attention to letters, if you ask me.
Roboto won’t be completely expelled from the operating system just yet either – judging by a Chromium Gerrit code commit spotted by 9to5Google, the former default font is retained for times when Google Sans doesn’t quite fit (for example, due to a lack of specific glyph support). We don’t have a concrete date yet for when the change will be implemented; Since ChromeOS version 124 is already in beta and will go live soon, it will likely arrive in version 125 in late May or early June.
Do you have strong opinions about fonts? I know some of you do. Hit me up at X (cough, Twitter, cough) with your absolute worst font shots!