Precise src: local() matching in CSS @font-faces by PostScript and Full Font Name

Category: CSS
Type: New or changed feature
Status: Enabled by default (Chrome 77)
Intent stage: Start prototyping

Breaking change: No
Enterprise impact: None
Spec maturity: Published standard
Web Platform Tests: No

WPT details: Hard to test on WPT due to system fonts not being consistently configured for the WPT harness, see explanations here: https://github.com/web-platform-tests/wpt/issues/13203#issuecomment-463979709

Summary

Precisely match locally installed fonts by PostScript name or full font name, when used in a local() value to a src: descriptor in a @font-face declaration. This means, you can precisely and uniquely select local fonts by specifying their PostScript name or full font name. Previously Blink had implemented this incorrectly and was using the specified font name to perform a family match.

Motivation

Preferring local fonts when a suitable local copy is available avoids network round trips.

Standards & signals

Specification: https://drafts.csswg.org/css-fonts-4/#local-font-fallback
Firefox: Shipped/Shipping
Safari: Shipped/Shipping
Web developers: Positive — 39 stars on mentioned issue.
Tracking bug: https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=627143

Ecosystem

Web Platform Tests: https://wpt.fyi/results/?q=precise-src-local-matching-in-css-font-faces-by-postscript-and-full-font-name
Chrome Platform Showcase: https://chrome-platform-showcase.paulkinlan-ea.deno.net/features
GenDN reference: https://gendn.paulkinlan-ea.deno.net/features
chrome.dev demos search: https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Achrome.dev+Precise%20src%3A%20local()%20matching%20in%20CSS%20%40font-faces%20by%20PostScript%20and%20Full%20Font%20Name
MDN Web Docs: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/search?q=Precise%20src%3A%20local()%20matching%20in%20CSS%20%40font-faces%20by%20PostScript%20and%20Full%20Font%20Name
Baseline status: https://webstatus.dev/?q=Precise%20src%3A%20local()%20matching%20in%20CSS%20%40font-faces%20by%20PostScript%20and%20Full%20Font%20Name

Docs: https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=828317

View on chromestatus.com