Web fonts refer to fonts that are downloaded by the browser and embedded in the page through the use of the @font-face declaration included in the CSS3 specification.
Traditionally, designers were limited to using “web-safe” or “core” fonts (such as Arial and Times) that were generally included in installations of the major operating systems. A variety of options, including substituting images for display fonts, were used to display non-core fonts but all of them had significant drawbacks which are overcome with the @font-face declaration.
Designers should note that the fonts are downloaded by the viewer’s web browser and therefore are subject to copyright restrictions and, potentially royalty payments to the owner. A number of sites offer royalty free fonts that designers can download and doploy on their sites. In addition there are a number of free and fee sites which host web fonts that designers can access directly.
Some of the most popular web font hosts are Typekit, fonts.com and Google Fonts,