Cannot set editor font-family via theme.json

[TwentyZeroTwo]

As indicated on ​https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/06/25/introducing-theme-json-in-wordpress-5-8/, "The default font-family styles for the editor are not enqueued." when theme.json is present in a theme.

As far as I can see, there is no method to set the font-family of the editor without enqueuing a custom style sheet, which defeats the point of what I believe the new theme.json is pushing to achieve.

Similarly, theme.json can specify the below property:

settings.typography.fontFamilies

but it doesn't appear to do anything or be used anywhere in the editor.

Is this future functionality, or is the handling of editor/block font-families an oversight in 5.8?

[ocean90]

Hi @TwentyZeroTwo, WordPress 5.8 itself only supports a subset of possible theme.json features. But with the Gutenberg plugin you'll get a few more features, including support for font-family. On the handbook page for ​settings and ​styles you can view what is supported by WordPress and what requires Gutenberg.

Here's a quick example of a theme.json (based on ​tt1-blocks) which would set a default font-family and one specific to paragraphs - for the editor and the frontend. But as mentioned above, this requires Gutenberg to be active.

{
  "version": 1,
  "settings": {
    "typography": {
      "fontFamilies": [
        {
          "fontFamily": "-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,\"Segoe UI\",Roboto,Oxygen-Sans,Ubuntu,Cantarell,\"Helvetica Neue\",sans-serif",
          "slug": "system-font",
          "name": "System Font"
        },
        {
          "fontFamily": "Cambria, Georgia, serif",
          "slug": "cambria-georgia"
        }
      ]
    }
  },
  "styles": {
    "typography": {
      "fontFamily": "var(--wp--preset--font-family--system-font)"
    },
    "blocks": {
      "core/paragraph": {
        "typography": {
          "fontFamily": "var(--wp--preset--font-family--cambria-georgia)"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

So right now I'd say that what you want to have is planned for a future release.

[TwentyZeroTwo]

@ocean90 makes sense.

I think myself and a lot of other devs who use WordPress in an agency setting (themes for single clients and not for market place) will likely hold off adopting theme.json use. Saying that, I will install the gutenberg plugin and try more of these features out as overall theme.json is a brilliant new feature.

Out of interest, why was the decision made to disable the default editor font in WordPress when theme.json is active? If core doesn't support setting fontFamily yet without the plugin, then it seems a little odd to dequeue the editor font-family with no way to define the new family.

I would also argue this is a docs enhancement as users reading ​https://developer.wordpress.org/block-editor/how-to-guides/themes/theme-json/ are not informed that the default family is dequeued, as that information is only available on ​https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/06/25/introducing-theme-json-in-wordpress-5-8/.