Unlock the Power of Custom Fonts in Your MUI Project
With over 82,000 stars and 2,600 contributors on GitHub, MUI is one of the most popular UI component libraries for React developers. Its diverse set of commonly used UI components allows developers to quickly build web interfaces, focusing on functionality instead of UI implementation. MUI is built on principles from the material design guide created by Google.
Getting Started with MUI
To get started with MUI, you’ll need to install Create React App or another React toolchain. Make sure to include a plugin or loader for loading fonts in your setup. Then, install MUI via npm or yarn:
npm install @mui/material
or
yarn add @mui/material
Next, add some UI components to your App.js folder to work with.
Customizing Fonts in MUI
By default, MUI uses the Roboto font family. But what if you want to use a different font? Let’s explore three ways to add custom fonts to your MUI project.
Method 1: Google Fonts CDN
Head to Google Fonts and select the font family of your choice. I’ll use Chilanka Cursive. Copy the CDN link and add it to the <head> of your public/index.html file. Then, initialize the font using CreateTheme and ThemeProvider.
Method 2: Self-Hosting Fonts with google-webfonts-helper
Self-hosting fonts can be faster and allow offline loading. google-webfonts-helper is a tool that makes self-hosting fonts easy. Search for a Google Font, select the desired font weights, and copy the resulting font-face declarations into your src/index.css file.
Method 3: Self-Hosting Fonts with Typefaces npm Packages
Typefaces is a collection of npm packages for Google Fonts and other open-source typefaces. Simply search for a typeface, install it with npm, and import it into your project’s entry file.
Defining Different Fonts for Different Elements
What if you want to use different fonts for your header and button? You can define two theme constants and wrap the intended components with the ThemeProvider component, each with a theme prop of the corresponding font.
Take Your MUI Project to the Next Level
With these three methods, you can easily add custom fonts to your MUI project. Whether you choose to use the Google Fonts CDN, self-host fonts with google-webfonts-helper, or use Typefaces npm packages, you’ll be able to create a unique and engaging user interface.
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