diff --git a/button.php b/button.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fbe0ac7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/button.php
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+<?php
+// Serves an 88x31 button from the local cache (see inc/buttons.php).
+require_once __DIR__ . '/config.php';
+
+$h = $_GET['h'] ?? '';
+$file = DATA_DIR . '/buttons/' . $h;
+if (!preg_match('/^[0-9a-f]{32}$/', $h) || !is_file($file)) {
+    http_response_code(404);
+    exit;
+}
+
+$raw = (string) file_get_contents($file);
+$nl = strpos($raw, "\n");
+$type = $nl !== false ? substr($raw, 0, $nl) : '';
+if (!preg_match('#^image/[\w.+-]+$#', $type)) {
+    http_response_code(404);
+    exit;
+}
+
+header('Content-Type: ' . $type);
+header('Cache-Control: public, max-age=31536000, immutable'); // URL carries ?v=<mtime>
+echo substr($raw, $nl + 1);
diff --git a/inc/buttons.php b/inc/buttons.php
index 9ca190c..8f3bc9e 100644
--- a/inc/buttons.php
+++ b/inc/buttons.php
@@ -20,10 +20,10 @@ const BUTTONS_88x31 = [
 const BUTTON_CACHE_TTL = 7 * 86400; // re-fetch each button at most once a week
 
 /**
- * Fetch a remote image, cache it locally, and return it as a base64 data: URI.
- * Returns null on failure so the caller can fall back to hotlinking.
+ * Fetch a remote image into the local cache (at most once a week) and return
+ * the cache file's path, or null if it couldn't be fetched.
  */
-function button_data_uri(string $url): ?string
+function button_cache(string $url): ?string
 {
     $dir = DATA_DIR . '/buttons';
     @mkdir($dir, 0775, true);
@@ -47,19 +47,19 @@ function button_data_uri(string $url): ?string
         }
     }
 
-    if (!is_file($file)) {
-        return null;
-    }
+    return is_file($file) ? $file : null;
+}
 
-    $raw = (string) file_get_contents($file);
-    $nl  = strpos($raw, "\n");
-    if ($nl === false) {
-        return null;
-    }
-
-    $type = substr($raw, 0, $nl);
-    $data = substr($raw, $nl + 1);
-    return 'data:' . $type . ';base64,' . base64_encode($data);
+/**
+ * Where the page should load a button from: our own copy (button.php serves
+ * it, versioned by the cache file's mtime so browsers can keep it), or the
+ * original if fetching failed. Was inlined as base64 before, which made every
+ * page ~260 KB heavier.
+ */
+function button_src(string $url): string
+{
+    $file = button_cache($url);
+    return $file ? '/button.php?h=' . basename($file) . '&v=' . filemtime($file) : $url;
 }
 
 /** Render the whole 88x31 button row as HTML. */
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ function render_buttons_88x31(): string
 {
     $html = '';
     foreach (BUTTONS_88x31 as $b) {
-        $uri = button_data_uri($b['src']) ?? $b['src']; // fall back to hotlink if fetch failed
+        $uri = button_src($b['src']);
         $img = '<img src="' . htmlspecialchars($uri) . '" alt="' . htmlspecialchars($b['alt']) . '" width="88" height="31">';
         $href = $b['href'] ?? '';
         if ($href !== '') {
diff --git a/inc/header.php b/inc/header.php
index 69053e9..783a275 100644
--- a/inc/header.php
+++ b/inc/header.php
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ require_once __DIR__ . '/../config.php';
   <title><?= htmlspecialchars($page_title ?? SITE_TITLE) ?></title>
   <link rel="icon" href="/img/favicon.ico" sizes="any">
   <link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/style.css?v=<?= filemtime(__DIR__ . '/../css/style.css') ?>">
+  <link rel="preload" href="/css/sideart.woff2" as="font" type="font/woff2" crossorigin>
   <script src="/js/htmx.min.js" defer></script>
   <script src="/js/idiomorph-ext.min.js" defer></script>
 </head>