How to Remove Google Fonts Lato from the Twenty Fourteen Theme

Is the Lato font slowing down your Twenty Fourteen WordPress theme? Twenty Fourteen loads seven variants of Lato by default, and on slow connections that can delay your text from appearing. We used the Twenty Fourteen theme on this site, and this is how we fixed it. Here’s how to remove Google Fonts Lato variants, or the whole font, from Twenty Fourteen with a few lines in a child theme, updated for 2026.

Quick answer: To remove Lato completely, add this to your child theme’s functions.php: add_action( 'wp_enqueue_scripts', function () { wp_dequeue_style( 'twentyfourteen-lato' ); }, 11 );. Then set a fallback font in your child theme’s CSS, such as a system font stack. To keep Lato but load less, override the font URL to load only the 400 and 700 weights.

Why Lato slows down Twenty Fourteen

Twenty Fourteen’s functions.php builds its font URL like this:

function twentyfourteen_font_url() {
    $font_url = '';
    if ( 'off' !== _x( 'on', 'Lato font: on or off', 'twentyfourteen' ) ) {
        $font_url = add_query_arg( 'family', urlencode( 'Lato:300,400,700,900,300italic,400italic,700italic' ), 'https://fonts.googleapis.com/css' );
    }
    return $font_url;
}

That’s seven font files: four weights plus three italics. When we tested it, the fonts had a big impact on load time:

While the fonts download, many browsers hide the text (a “flash of invisible text”), so visitors see a blank page on slow connections. It also adds to your Largest Contentful Paint, one of the Core Web Vitals.

2026 note: recent versions of Twenty Fourteen bundle Lato with the theme and load it from your own server instead of Google, for privacy reasons. That removes the extra connection to Google, but the seven font files are still there, so trimming or removing them still speeds things up. Update the theme first, then check which fonts load in your browser’s developer tools (Network tab, filter by Font).

Option 1: Load fewer Lato variants

If you like Lato, keep it but load only regular and bold. Copy the font function into your child theme’s functions.php with fewer weights. The simplest way is to dequeue the original and enqueue your own:

add_action( 'wp_enqueue_scripts', function () {
    wp_dequeue_style( 'twentyfourteen-lato' );
    wp_enqueue_style( 'qot-lato', 'https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Lato:400,700&display=swap', array(), null );
}, 11 );

The display=swap parameter shows text immediately in a fallback font while Lato loads. Italic text and blockquotes may look slightly different, as the browser creates a fake italic.

Option 2: Remove Google Fonts Lato completely

This is what we did. Add to your child theme’s functions.php:

// Remove Lato font from Twenty Fourteen
function qot_dequeue_fonts() {
    wp_dequeue_style( 'twentyfourteen-lato' );
}
add_action( 'wp_enqueue_scripts', 'qot_dequeue_fonts', 11 );

The priority 11 makes it run after the theme has enqueued the font. Then give your text a fast fallback in the child theme’s style.css:

body, button, input, select, textarea,
.site-title, .entry-title, .widget-title {
  font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Arial, sans-serif;
}

A system font stack uses the font already on each device, so it loads instantly and looks native on Windows, Mac, Android and iPhone.

Always make these changes in a child theme, not in Twenty Fourteen itself, or your edits are lost when the theme updates. And back up functions.php first: a typo can take your site offline.

More font speed tips

• Load only the weights you actually use, and prefer modern WOFF2 files.
• Self-host fonts and preload the main one.
• Use font-display: swap so text is never invisible.

See our full guide to load Google Fonts faster, and how to delay non-critical CSS.

Frequently asked questions

Is Twenty Fourteen still supported?

Yes. WordPress still updates its older default themes for compatibility and security, though newer block themes such as Twenty Twenty-Five offer more features.

Will removing Lato change my site’s design?

Slightly. Headings and text will use the fallback font. Choose a fallback with similar proportions if you want the design to stay close.

Does this work for other themes?

Yes. Find the font’s style handle in the theme’s functions.php (look for wp_enqueue_style) and dequeue that handle the same way.