Browsers don't always behave as we would want or expect them to, but we do have tools at our disposal to steer that behaviour towards the result we want.

Preloading and prefetching to optimize Instagram feed performance

Given the issues I outlined earlier, should we even consider preloading fonts?

I suspect even with Chrome’s current sub-optimal behaviour there’s a case for preloading one or maybe two critical fonts.

But don’t take my word for it, test it for yourself as your traffic mix e.g. Safari vs Chrome, the choice of server and your page make up will influence the outcome:

I’m harvesting credit card numbers and passwords from your site. Here’s how.