Niklas Laxström wrote:
[...]
Thus, I think that delivering a relative small fonts for simple scripts like latin and cyrillic is something that is possible *if* we are willing to accept that it will take some bandwidth and that page load experience can be affected* if the font is not cached or present locally.
- The unwanted effects of using webfonts are getting smaller and
smaller with modern browsers.
I think you're mostly right, though the exact terms of the trade-offs aren't clear here (e.g., "some bandwidth"). We'll need more explicit measurements in order to reach full agreement on what user benefit vs. site performance trade-offs Wikimedia is willing to accept.
It's also necessary to hear from the Wikimedia operations team. In addition to end-users weighing the importance of a feature against its cost, the operations team must also make practical considerations. Some Wikimedia wikis get some substantial traffic. ;-)
MZMcBride