diff --git a/Gruntfile.js b/Gruntfile.js
index 98b76cfd6aa..4944f03d651 100644
--- a/Gruntfile.js
+++ b/Gruntfile.js
@@ -93,7 +93,8 @@ module.exports = function(grunt) {
                     'optimize': 'uglify',
                     'preserveLicenseComments': false,
                     'optimizeCss': 'standard',
-                    'cssImportIgnore': null,
+                    // TODO: Replace the following with a saner value if/when `r.js` merges PR https://github.com/jrburke/r.js/pull/653
+                    'cssImportIgnore': '//fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Open+Sans:300italic,400italic,600italic,700italic,400,300,600,700&subset=latin,cyrillic-ext,latin-ext,greek-ext',
                     'inlineText': true,
                     'useStrict': false,
                     'pragmas': {},
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 24097295dbb..1d956cb5291 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -9,6 +9,10 @@
 
 Documentation on how to install and configure OAE can be found in the [back-end repository](https://github.com/oaeproject/Hilary).
 
+## Local Development
+
+By default 3akai-ux uses the Open Sans font family available from Google's Web Font CDN. When developing locally without a live Internet connection, that CDN will be inaccessible. To ensure maximum visual fidelity, those fonts can be installed as system fonts in the local machine. Download the entire collection from [Google](http://www.google.com/fonts#UsePlace:use/Collection:Open+Sans).
+
 ## Widget development
 
 Documentation on how to create custom OAE widgets and an overview of the available widgets can be found at the [Widget Library](http://oae-widgets.sakaiproject.org/)
diff --git a/shared/oae/css/oae.core.css b/shared/oae/css/oae.core.css
index 4f924a9f35f..a9b943a74b6 100644
--- a/shared/oae/css/oae.core.css
+++ b/shared/oae/css/oae.core.css
@@ -13,6 +13,14 @@
  * permissions and limitations under the License.
  */
 
+/**
+* Import the Open Sans font. Any changes to the URL below must be reflected
+* in `requirejs.optimize.options.cssImportIgnore` in `Gruntfile.js`. Because
+* this `@import` will not be replaced with inlined includes, it must precede
+* all other rules in the file.
+*/
+@import url('//fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Open+Sans:300italic,400italic,600italic,700italic,400,300,600,700&subset=latin,cyrillic-ext,latin-ext,greek-ext');
+
 /* Import the Bootstrap CSS file */
 @import url('../../vendor/css/bootstrap.css');
 /* Import the JQuery Bootstrap Notify plugin CSS */
@@ -20,8 +28,6 @@
 
 /* Import the Font Awesome Icon Set */
 @import url('../../vendor/css/font-awesome/css/font-awesome.css');
-/* Import the Open Sans font */
-@import url('../../vendor/css/opensans/css/opensans.css');
 
 /* Import the JQuery AutoSuggest plugin CSS */
 @import url('../../vendor/css/jquery.autoSuggest.css');
diff --git a/shared/vendor/css/opensans/css/opensans.css b/shared/vendor/css/opensans/css/opensans.css
deleted file mode 100644
index 7144a05d725..00000000000
--- a/shared/vendor/css/opensans/css/opensans.css
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,60 +0,0 @@
-@font-face {
-  font-family: 'Open Sans';
-  font-style: normal;
-  font-weight: 300;
-  src: local('Open Sans Light'), local('OpenSans-Light'), url(/shared/vendor/css/opensans/font/opensans-light-webfont.woff) format('woff');
-}
-@font-face {
-  font-family: 'Open Sans';
-  font-style: normal;
-  font-weight: 400;
-  src: local('Open Sans'), local('OpenSans'), url(/shared/vendor/css/opensans/font/opensans-regular-webfont.woff) format('woff');
-}
-@font-face {
-  font-family: 'Open Sans';
-  font-style: normal;
-  font-weight: 600;
-  src: local('Open Sans Semibold'), local('OpenSans-Semibold'), url(/shared/vendor/css/opensans/font/opensans-semibold-webfont.woff) format('woff');
-}
-@font-face {
-  font-family: 'Open Sans';
-  font-style: normal;
-  font-weight: 700;
-  src: local('Open Sans Bold'), local('OpenSans-Bold'), url(/shared/vendor/css/opensans/font/opensans-bold-webfont.woff) format('woff');
-}
-@font-face {
-  font-family: 'Open Sans';
-  font-style: normal;
-  font-weight: 800;
-  src: local('Open Sans Extrabold'), local('OpenSans-Extrabold'), url(/shared/vendor/css/opensans/font/opensans-extrabold-webfont.woff) format('woff');
-}
-@font-face {
-  font-family: 'Open Sans';
-  font-style: italic;
-  font-weight: 300;
-  src: local('Open Sans Light Italic'), local('OpenSans-LightItalic'), url(/shared/vendor/css/opensans/font/opensans-lightitalic-webfont.woff) format('woff');
-}
-@font-face {
-  font-family: 'Open Sans';
-  font-style: italic;
-  font-weight: 400;
-  src: local('Open Sans Italic'), local('OpenSans-Italic'), url(/shared/vendor/css/opensans/font/opensans-italic-webfont.woff) format('woff');
-}
-@font-face {
-  font-family: 'Open Sans';
-  font-style: italic;
-  font-weight: 600;
-  src: local('Open Sans Semibold Italic'), local('OpenSans-SemiboldItalic'), url(/shared/vendor/css/opensans/font/opensans-semibolditalic-webfont.woff) format('woff');
-}
-@font-face {
-  font-family: 'Open Sans';
-  font-style: italic;
-  font-weight: 700;
-  src: local('Open Sans Bold Italic'), local('OpenSans-BoldItalic'), url(/shared/vendor/css/opensans/font/opensans-bolditalic-webfont.woff) format('woff');
-}
-@font-face {
-  font-family: 'Open Sans';
-  font-style: italic;
-  font-weight: 800;
-  src: local('Open Sans Extrabold Italic'), local('OpenSans-ExtraboldItalic'), url(/shared/vendor/css/opensans/font/opensans-extrabolditalic-webfont.woff) format('woff');
-}
diff --git a/shared/vendor/css/opensans/font/opensans-bold-webfont.woff b/shared/vendor/css/opensans/font/opensans-bold-webfont.woff
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diff --git a/shared/vendor/css/opensans/font/opensans-regular-webfont.woff b/shared/vendor/css/opensans/font/opensans-regular-webfont.woff
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