Kalium 3.4 Release: Redesigned Typography, Speed Improvements and More

Hello, Kalium fans. In this post, we’re checking in with the latest features that we added to our Kalium theme in version 3.4.

Besides WordPress 5.8 and WooCommerce 5.6 support with this new version of Kalium, you’ll get some exciting new features. Keep reading…

Typography 2.0

TypoLab 10X just got better! We redesigned the Typography area with a more intuitive UI which offers great new features such as storing Google fonts locally, font preloading, support for system fonts, and much more.

Load Google Fonts Locally

When you use any Google font on your site, it requires a request to be sent to Google to fetch that font every time you load a page. This can make your site slower because extra external requests are made.

On older Kalium versions if users wanted to load Google Fonts locally they needed to manually download preferred Google Font and then used the Self Hosted Fonts area to upload them. This problem was a bit slow and hustle for non-experienced users. Also, when Google Fonts updated that specific font users needed to do the same procedure again.

To help improve this and make this procedure automatic, Kalium Theme 3.4 offers the Load Google Fonts Locally feature built-in.

Enabling this option will save your existing or newly added Google Fonts on your server so when users visit your site it will load Google Fonts from your site, this will contribute to a faster website and will fulfill GDPR requirements too.

Flush Local Fonts Cache

Now, to keep your website fonts up to date, Kalium will refresh the locally stored fonts every month or you can manually do that by clicking the flush button:

Font Preloading

With this optimization, you can preload the fonts that you’re using for faster rendering and better site performance. You can preload only one font  (Font area > Advanced Settings) or all the fonts that you use on your site.

Font Face Rendering

In the older theme versions, swap was the default because it is recommended, but now you can choose the best method. The following range of values are available: auto, block, swap (default), fallback, and optional. To learn which font display is right for you please read this article.

System Fonts

Kalium, out of the box uses System Fonts. A System Font is a font that is compatible with the respective operating system. What that means is that when a website loads, the font doesn’t have to be downloaded by the browser.

They are used by Weather.com, GitHub, Bootstrap, Medium, Ghost, Booking.com, and even this WordPress dashboard. This can help reduce the overall page weight on your website. While this is not huge, remember every little optimization you make adds up to a speedy website.

Depending on the user’s device and operating system, the theme loads one of the fonts from the list below.

Apple System, Blink Mac SystemFont, Segoe UI, Roboto, Oxygen Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, Helvetica Neue, Sans Serif

Whereas it also offers the option of the System fonts below:

Halvetica, Verdana, Arial, Times, Gorgia, Courier

Simplified Adobe Fonts loading

Adobe Fonts are now much simple to add because of the new API implementation. Now you don’t need to copy font Kit ID but you can easily add your Adobe Font API token and your active Web Projects will be found so you can choose which one you want to apply on your site.

Speed Improvements

Even that Typography Settings offer some great performance options that you can choose, in this update we introduce the Performance tab in Theme Options, there you analyze and manage your website features and make better performance-related decisions, all in one panel.

Upgrade to Kalium 3.4 Today

Kalium 3.4 is officially out — so if you’re an existing Kalium user, you can apply the update directly from your WordPress dashboard for free.

Or, if you haven’t purchased Kalium yet but want to access the new features + all the great features that Kalium offers, you can purchase a Kalium license today and get the latest version.

For the detailed changelog, click Kalium 3.4 changelog.

Have any questions about the changes? Ask us in the comments section!