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New free monospace programming font by Mark Simonson: Anonymous Pro

158 points by bunglebooz 16y ago

sh1mmer 16y ago
I'm surprised no-one has mentioned monofur yet. http://eurofurence.net/monofur.html http://eurofurence.net/monofur.html It's my favourite programming font because it's extremely readable but retails a little flare.
- Kateish 16y ago
  It's my default monospaced font as well. I've tried Inconsolata, Terminus, Anonymous (Pro), etc. and though I could happily use most of them I find monofur to be easy on my eyes, clear, and just a little Art Deco in feel if not in history. Using it was a whim that's stuck with me for several years and I'm happy I stumbled across it. It's spread to a few friends via the "what the heck is that", "eh, might as well try it", "this is really nice!" cycle.
- chubs 16y ago
  +1 for monofur!
gojomo 16y ago
What are some good, widely-available variable-width fonts that also help distinguish commonly-confused characters (O, 0, I, l, 1, etc.)? The verdana here at HN is reasonable, but what if I wanted an even stronger distinction -- especially on the zeros -- without going fully monospace? I'm thinking of a reference-info use case where precision is important, but code-like alignment isn't.
skatey 16y ago
Looks like there are some coders out there that actually know why having good typography is valid and don't just take whatever is out there as is usually the case.
- IgorPartola 16y ago
  I've lately been happy with Xubuntu's default monospaced font for the terminal. Should I not be?
  - jarin 16y ago
    Be happy with whatever you're happy with.
- trebor 16y ago
  Most modern programming fonts have good typography. In fact, most older programming fonts have good typography too (except for terminal, on Windows). Since the guys who make amazing typographic marvels are the same that bring us our fixed-width fonts, I'm not surprised.
vito 16y ago
I've been using this for a few months now; it's by far my favorite programming font. Every little detail is so finely crafted and well-proportioned. For example, with Monaco it always bothered me that / and \ were slightly taller, or that < and > looked funny - in Anonymous Pro everything's just right.
camwest 16y ago
I wonder how this stacks up with Microsoft's Consolas font. I've been using it as my default for a few years now.
- po 16y ago
  I use Anonymous and I'm trying out Anonymous Pro now but Consolas is a fantastic font as well. Especially on windows, as it has great cleartype hinting. It also has a two-storey "a" and the slashed 0 going the correct way.
- nhebb 16y ago
  I don't know, but I love Consolas so much that I'd be hard pressed to try anything else. I can set a small font size, lean back in my chair and still read it clearly without squinting.
- mfukar 16y ago
  I think Anonymous Pro looks a lot like Consolas, only a little less bold. Also, a little more "packed" - I assume this is due to decreased font height, which for me works great sometimes but it can be cumbersome to my eyes.
- mcobrien 16y ago
  Consolas is definitely my favourite. I switched over in Windows when I first saw it, and now use it in OSX too. http://www.wezm.net/technical/2010/08/howto-install-consolas-font-mac/ http://www.wezm.net/technical/2010/08/howto-install-consolas...
jarin 16y ago
Every couple of months I try a new programming font, but I always go back to Inconsolata.
- Emore 16y ago
  Me too. Here's a link for the unenlightened: http://www.levien.com/type/myfonts/inconsolata.html http://www.levien.com/type/myfonts/inconsolata.html
  - telemachos 16y ago
    It's my (self-appointed) job on HN to also remind people that if they love Inconsolata, but hate the curly quotations, you can get straight-quote Inconsolata-dz. http://nodnod.net/2009/feb/12/adding-straight-single-and-double-quotes-inconsola/ http://nodnod.net/2009/feb/12/adding-straight-single-and-dou...
    - Emore 16y ago
      Brilliant, didn't know about that one. Thanks!
    - jarin 16y ago
      I didn't even notice the curly quotes until you pointed it out. I guess today I'll either decide I don't care or get maddeningly frustrated and download Inconsolata-dz :)
  - yannis 16y ago
    You can even have it replace tt in your LaTeX files. Download and \usepackage{inconsolata} in your preamble.
- yellowbkpk 16y ago
  I had to stop using Inconsolata because when it is a pixel or two wider when bolded (by Eclipse or other editors). Perhaps I installed it wrong on my Ubuntu machine, but I couldn't figure out how to fix it.
- 16y ago
morlad 16y ago
Am I the only one who thinks that nothing comes close to Fixedsys (Excelsior) for programming?
- rgiar 16y ago
  if you can point out another, I'd try it, but I found this: http://fixedsys.moviecorner.de/?p=download&l=1 http://fixedsys.moviecorner.de/?p=download&l=1 and it's only in bold. Hard to imagine using it.
  - morlad 16y ago
    Actually I was talking about this one: http://www.fixedsysexcelsior.com/ http://www.fixedsysexcelsior.com/ If you call that bold, ok. I call it: easy to read and less strain on my eyes. Especially because there is no need for ClearType (et al), which I can't stand, as it always looks blurry to me.
- igravious 16y ago
  Sounds very Windows-y from the blurb (and good blurb it is too). If I had a Windows box I'd defo try it out. Especially for the range of glyphs it has, lots n lots. However seems Mac head and Linux dweebs need not apply unless they want to struggle a bit.
antonios 16y ago
Nice slashed zero, The letter 'l' nicely distinguishes from one, greek character support and bitmap support for those who hate anti-aliasing. Simply wonderful.
edanm 16y ago
It took me years of programming (and even more years of being a computer user) to realize that it's worth choosing a programming font. It honestly hadn't occurred to me. I've been using Monaco for a while, mostly because it's the "happiest" looking font I've found. Going to be giving this font a test drive now.
- ChuckN 16y ago
  Tried Absolute but am now back at Monaco, and happy with that.
po 16y ago
I've been using regular Anonymous for a while now. Now when I see it, I think "That looks like my code." The "0" character being slashed the normal way and staying inside the circle is a welcome change. If he was concerned with it looking too much like a Ø character, he could have used a dotted zero I suppose although these kinds of details are capable of spurring wars. Anyway, it looks nice in everything I switched over... except Komodo Edit which renders the line heights wrong at pts lower than 14. I'm willing to blame that on the editor though. Highly recommend it.
rgiar 16y ago
Another nice choice, on the sans-serif side, is an APL font from dyalog (even if you're not an APL programmer). It has a certain old-school charm that pleases me. http://www.dyalog.com/downloads/fonts/Apl385.ttf http://www.dyalog.com/downloads/fonts/Apl385.ttf
alexandros 16y ago
This looks strange: In the 'all characters' tab, the Greek omega appears only with a stress, not in its regular form. Is this usual with fonts or a peculiarity of this one? I actually got excited to have a nice Greek-enabled font, but this threw me off.
- mfukar 16y ago
  Looks like there's a "normal" one; take a look at the sixth line in the 'All Characters' tab. I'm using it now and it's all good, too.
rue 16y ago
Hrm, the images on the site look fuzzy, could not stand to look at that for long. The font is also a bit too…expressive? The round shapes are very prominent. There seems to be some disproportion to some letters which makes text look uneven to my eyes. I use SGIscreen at 13px, no antialias. Edit: not the best showcase but here is an old screenshot: http://files.kittensoft.org/vim_ruby.png http://files.kittensoft.org/vim_ruby.png
- bigfudge 16y ago
  Am I the only person to set a 20px+ programming font? I have pretty good sight, but with a widescreen-ish macbook, you can easily get 120 chars in a window at that size and it's much easier to scan code.
  - modoc 16y ago
    I have a 17" MBP and a 30" LCD and I happily use an 11px font (Monaco or Manlo). 20px would seem silly to me, no offense. I have room for 120 chars, 120 lines, and plenty of space for tech design docs, API guides, terminals, etc....
fr0sty 16y ago
What pt size do people use for their Anti-Aliased programming fonts? I currently use a 10pt bitmapped font and everytime I try a font that is 'smoothed' it ends up looking like out of focus dreck at that size. I'm curious whether I'm odd for using such a small typeface, noticing the effect of AA on such a small typeface, or caring about it. I can't decide which.
- heresy 16y ago
  Linux, Windows, or Mac? Point sizes vary due to DPI. I used 11pt on Windows, and ProFont (bitmap, 10 or 9, I don't recall) on Mac. I think it's only Windows where you can get relatively decent clarity for aliased fonts at a smallish point size, depending on how good it's hinted, due to how ClearType renders it. Mac is a bit heavy, and Linux is just bad, the shapes on Linux look nothing like any other OS. Aside: Yes, I know about the byte code interpreter option and patches to FreeType, but even with that it's still bad. Most programmers I work with unfortunately are just type blind (can't tell difference between Tahoma, Arial, and Segoe, and italic/non-italic of each, for example, leading to "interesting" font choices in UIs).
  - fr0sty 16y ago
    Should have said Px size (given that we're talking bitmapped fonts)... I work on Linux(Redhat) with bitmapped fonts. ClearType screenshots (from my memory at least) have all still been fuzzy around the edges (at least for my taste).
drhodes 16y ago
Hey Mark, if you're reading this: your font looks fantastic, sincerely on par with Inconsolata. BUT, the pointer arrow -> renders with the dash off center from the point of the >. It's too much of a distraction to switch.
humblepie 16y ago
That's a good looking code font. However, I still love my Droid Sans Mono :)
- sohooo 16y ago
  Droid Sans Mono Dotted! ;)
bouncingsoul 16y ago
This font is not new. This re-release has been out over a year and its predecessor (Anonymous) has been around almost ten. I've seen it in plenty of "best programming fonts" articles. That said, it is nice to have something different from the usual simple sans model of most modern monospaces (e.g., Deja Vu Sans Mono, Consolas, and Inconsolata). Anonymous has a lot of character – which either interests or annoys you. It's been my default in Vim for some months now.
- camiller 16y ago
  Agreed. I've been using it for close to a year as my default in Eclipse, I like it a lot.
- moondowner 16y ago
  True, isn't really new, I use it since January. Though, there are two best "programming" fonts according to me: - free: Droid Sans Mono ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Droid_(font) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Droid_(font) ) - paid: Pragmata ( http://www.fsd.it/fonts/pragma.htm http://www.fsd.it/fonts/pragma.htm ) One thing I like about Inconsolata Pro is that it supports Cyrillic fonts (the other two also support), there are many good monospaced fonts which don't have Cyrillic support, and there are lot of programmers who like to make the comments in the code in their native language.
- psadauskas 16y ago
  I used it for a little bit, but as always, switched back to Envy Code R. At 12pt on my Mac Terminal, it renders with no anti-aliased blurriness. http://damieng.com/blog/2008/05/26/envy-code-r-preview-7-coding-font-released http://damieng.com/blog/2008/05/26/envy-code-r-preview-7-cod...
  - dtf 16y ago
    I find OS X makes nice fonts like Envy look bloated, bold and ugly when I switch from Apple-prescribed black-on-white - where they look awesome - to my preferred white-on-black scheme. I have to stick to bitmap fonts like Terminus, SGIScreen and Dina when coding on Mac. Linux and Windows do not have this problem.
abalashov 16y ago
Unfortunately, its nice auto-hinted varieties do not kick in before 11 points, and doesn't really look nice until 12 pt. If I had an 11 or 12 point defaulted in my terminals, there is no way I'd be able to put more than one or two of them on one screen at most--and even then, with overlap--which sort of defeats the point. To use this font, I need it to work non-crudely at 9 or 10 pt too.
b3b0p 16y ago
I've been a die hard programmer font snob for years and have been using Bitstream Vera Sans Mono or Deja Vu Sans Mono. Mostly because it's free and can be used on all platforms. Then, Apple released Snow Leopard with Menlo. It had just enough small little changes that at a slightly smaller point size it was easier to read. I fell in love. I've actually now trained my self to really enjoy using 10 point unaliased Monaco on small screens and enjoy it immensely as well.
- SoftwareMaven 16y ago
  It's amazing how close Menlo and Deja Vu Sans Mono are. I like the lighter punctuation in Deja Vu but the = character is clearer in Menlo. I like the zero with a slash in Menlo, too.
  - spicyj 16y ago
    You know, Menlo is based on Deja Vu Sans Mono. http://typophile.com/node/58625#comment-351070 http://typophile.com/node/58625#comment-351070
metra 16y ago
Why does the font matter? This is a serious question. I use the default font on all of my editors and I've never had a problem. I can tell ohs from zeros and els from ones, etc. And I don't care about different types of serifs or other typographical nuances. Do most of the advantages come when using alphabets besides English? Why are custom programming fonts so popular?
- cletus 16y ago
  Why is custom anything so popular? People have different ways they like working, routines and aesthetics. It's all just personal preference really. The font is simply about how easy it is to read and one's aesthetics sensibilities.
- endtime 16y ago
  A good font can make you more efficient. A font which is just as readable as another, but at a smaller size, gets more code on the screen. A font where you can more quickly distinguish 0 from O saves you some tiny sliver of time, yes, but more importantly, if the difference is great enough it can prevent distraction/context-switching.
- eru 16y ago
  I can't really give you a reasoned answer. But using a `wrong' font just bugs me enough, that I feel irritated all the time.
ecyrb 16y ago
apt-get install xfonts-terminus
scorpion032 16y ago
Droid Sans Mono. You can't improve over perfection; can you?
- mdg 16y ago
  It wasn't the font I was looking for.
  - tekhammer 16y ago
    Move along.
- MrRage 16y ago
  Droid Sans Mono looks nice to me, but if you can't tell a zero apart from a capital o then you're asking for 30 minutes of trying to figure a really stupid bug at some point in your life.
  - adbge 16y ago
    Droid ships with a "Droid Sans Mono Slashed" with a slashed zero -- at least on Gentoo.
doty 16y ago
I wonder what the world would be like if somebody designed a nice variable-width font for typesetting code. It would be different than a font designed for setting English, but I wonder if we wouldn't get the same benefits of beauty and legibility. I mean, it's kinda silly that we continue to program in fixed-width type, given what modern software can do with setting type on the fly...
- Shorel 16y ago
  The 'using spaces instead of tabs' issue seems to have something to do with this.
  - __david__ 16y ago
    It's more than that--I tend to lean towards words with the same number of characters for variable names which helps make things line up. Variable width would kill that too.
    - doty 16y ago
      Do you think that you use fixed width fonts because you use words like that, or do you use words like that because you use fixed width fonts?
      - __david__ 16y ago
        Well, clearly the fixed width font came first in computer programming. So yeah, I'm sure I pick the words because I use a fixed width font. Using a variable width font would pose many problems to the editor and you'd have to have tabs on the "inside" of a line (as opposed to just having them on the front). That isn't necessarily bad, just much different from how I currently currently code. And aligning to a tab stop is not always what I want--you'd need a tab character that didn't mean "go to the next tab stop" but instead meant "line me up with the corresponding tab in the previous and next lines at the minimum possible distance". That seems annoying and probably not worth it.
- 16y ago
kreek 16y ago
Bitstream Vera Sans Mono 4 evah! :) Has a dot in the center of '0' which differentiates it from 'O' but is more readable than a slash. http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/GNOME/sources/ttf-bitstream-vera/1.10/ http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/GNOME/sources/ttf-bitstream-vera/1....
m0shen 16y ago
I've been using "Envy Code R" ( http://damieng.com/blog/2008/05/26/envy-code-r-preview-7-coding-font-released http://damieng.com/blog/2008/05/26/envy-code-r-preview-7-cod... ) for awhile. I find it much more readable.
daphoenix 16y ago
You can pry ProggySquare from my cold dead hands.
zebra 16y ago
Right now I am using Mensch font ( http://robey.lag.net/2010/06/21/mensch-font.html http://robey.lag.net/2010/06/21/mensch-font.html ). It is very readable and solid. I tried right now this post's font Anonymous Pro, also Envy Code R and Inconsolata but returned back to Mensch. They were not bad but I didn't liked them enough to switch.
- igravious 16y ago
  Mensch-Regular 13 pt. Anti alias is yum.
Shorel 16y ago
Thank you. This is the first 'programmer font' that I like enough to consider using instead of Lucida Console. Yes, others seem to look nice and whatever, but Lucida Console is efficient. More information in less space without looking crowded.
ajstarks 16y ago
Comparison on monospaced fonts: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ajstarks/3618903870/sizes/o/in/photostream/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/ajstarks/3618903870/sizes/o/in/...
ezy 16y ago
Not good enough at small resolutions, and looks horrible with light on dark colors. ProFontWindows doesn't suffer from this, and works at small sizes. http://www.tobias-jung.de/seekingprofont/ http://www.tobias-jung.de/seekingprofont/
Pistos2 16y ago
I've tried (and continue to try) several programming fonts, but always stick with Terminus. In my opinion, it is the most readable font at 8px, and I like being able to fit as much as possible in a screenful without losing readability. Most of the other fonts I've tried seem more suited for sizes 10pt and larger, and that's fine, I would consider them for usage in my web browser, or some other place. But my console windows are all Terminus.
__david__ 16y ago
Fonts are like religions. I still pray to god of bitmapped Monaco 10. 11 is good too. I've never seen anything that can shake my faith :-).
pbrumm 16y ago
in the i's and !'s the periods tend to run together. at 10pt everything else looks great
tekhammer 16y ago
I use my own customised bitmap font under Linux. I couldn't get the font working under OS-X, but didn't try very hard as Linux is on all my main machines. I have it here in case anyone is interested in it. It allows me to fit 4 terminals across on a 1920x1200 screen nicely with a bit of room to spare. http://wtf.geek.nz/2010/09/my-small-programmers-font/ http://wtf.geek.nz/2010/09/my-small-programmers-font/
pogos 16y ago
I love it. I think it's even better than consolas and I've been using consolas for years. ;(set-default-font "Consolas 11") (set-default-font "Anonymous Pro 11")

158 points by bunglebooz 16y ago

I'm surprised no-one has mentioned monofur yet. http://eurofurence.net/monofur.html http://eurofurence.net/monofur.html It's my favourite programming font because it's extremely readable but retails a little flare.

Kateish 16y ago
It's my default monospaced font as well. I've tried Inconsolata, Terminus, Anonymous (Pro), etc. and though I could happily use most of them I find monofur to be easy on my eyes, clear, and just a little Art Deco in feel if not in history. Using it was a whim that's stuck with me for several years and I'm happy I stumbled across it. It's spread to a few friends via the "what the heck is that", "eh, might as well try it", "this is really nice!" cycle.
chubs 16y ago
+1 for monofur!

gojomo 16y ago

What are some good, widely-available variable-width fonts that also help distinguish commonly-confused characters (O, 0, I, l, 1, etc.)? The verdana here at HN is reasonable, but what if I wanted an even stronger distinction -- especially on the zeros -- without going fully monospace? I'm thinking of a reference-info use case where precision is important, but code-like alignment isn't.

skatey 16y ago

Looks like there are some coders out there that actually know why having good typography is valid and don't just take whatever is out there as is usually the case.

IgorPartola 16y ago
I've lately been happy with Xubuntu's default monospaced font for the terminal. Should I not be?
- jarin 16y ago
  Be happy with whatever you're happy with.
trebor 16y ago
Most modern programming fonts have good typography. In fact, most older programming fonts have good typography too (except for terminal, on Windows). Since the guys who make amazing typographic marvels are the same that bring us our fixed-width fonts, I'm not surprised.

vito 16y ago

I've been using this for a few months now; it's by far my favorite programming font. Every little detail is so finely crafted and well-proportioned. For example, with Monaco it always bothered me that / and \ were slightly taller, or that < and > looked funny - in Anonymous Pro everything's just right.

camwest 16y ago

I wonder how this stacks up with Microsoft's Consolas font. I've been using it as my default for a few years now.

po 16y ago
I use Anonymous and I'm trying out Anonymous Pro now but Consolas is a fantastic font as well. Especially on windows, as it has great cleartype hinting. It also has a two-storey "a" and the slashed 0 going the correct way.
nhebb 16y ago
I don't know, but I love Consolas so much that I'd be hard pressed to try anything else. I can set a small font size, lean back in my chair and still read it clearly without squinting.
mfukar 16y ago
I think Anonymous Pro looks a lot like Consolas, only a little less bold. Also, a little more "packed" - I assume this is due to decreased font height, which for me works great sometimes but it can be cumbersome to my eyes.
mcobrien 16y ago
Consolas is definitely my favourite. I switched over in Windows when I first saw it, and now use it in OSX too. http://www.wezm.net/technical/2010/08/howto-install-consolas-font-mac/ http://www.wezm.net/technical/2010/08/howto-install-consolas...

jarin 16y ago

Every couple of months I try a new programming font, but I always go back to Inconsolata.

Emore 16y ago
Me too. Here's a link for the unenlightened: http://www.levien.com/type/myfonts/inconsolata.html http://www.levien.com/type/myfonts/inconsolata.html
- telemachos 16y ago
  It's my (self-appointed) job on HN to also remind people that if they love Inconsolata, but hate the curly quotations, you can get straight-quote Inconsolata-dz. http://nodnod.net/2009/feb/12/adding-straight-single-and-double-quotes-inconsola/ http://nodnod.net/2009/feb/12/adding-straight-single-and-dou...
  - Emore 16y ago
    Brilliant, didn't know about that one. Thanks!
  - jarin 16y ago
    I didn't even notice the curly quotes until you pointed it out. I guess today I'll either decide I don't care or get maddeningly frustrated and download Inconsolata-dz :)
- yannis 16y ago
  You can even have it replace tt in your LaTeX files. Download and \usepackage{inconsolata} in your preamble.
yellowbkpk 16y ago
I had to stop using Inconsolata because when it is a pixel or two wider when bolded (by Eclipse or other editors). Perhaps I installed it wrong on my Ubuntu machine, but I couldn't figure out how to fix it.
16y ago

morlad 16y ago

Am I the only one who thinks that nothing comes close to Fixedsys (Excelsior) for programming?

rgiar 16y ago
if you can point out another, I'd try it, but I found this: http://fixedsys.moviecorner.de/?p=download&l=1 http://fixedsys.moviecorner.de/?p=download&l=1 and it's only in bold. Hard to imagine using it.
- morlad 16y ago
  Actually I was talking about this one: http://www.fixedsysexcelsior.com/ http://www.fixedsysexcelsior.com/ If you call that bold, ok. I call it: easy to read and less strain on my eyes. Especially because there is no need for ClearType (et al), which I can't stand, as it always looks blurry to me.
igravious 16y ago
Sounds very Windows-y from the blurb (and good blurb it is too). If I had a Windows box I'd defo try it out. Especially for the range of glyphs it has, lots n lots. However seems Mac head and Linux dweebs need not apply unless they want to struggle a bit.

antonios 16y ago

Nice slashed zero, The letter 'l' nicely distinguishes from one, greek character support and bitmap support for those who hate anti-aliasing. Simply wonderful.

edanm 16y ago

It took me years of programming (and even more years of being a computer user) to realize that it's worth choosing a programming font. It honestly hadn't occurred to me. I've been using Monaco for a while, mostly because it's the "happiest" looking font I've found. Going to be giving this font a test drive now.

ChuckN 16y ago
Tried Absolute but am now back at Monaco, and happy with that.

po 16y ago

I've been using regular Anonymous for a while now. Now when I see it, I think "That looks like my code." The "0" character being slashed the normal way and staying inside the circle is a welcome change. If he was concerned with it looking too much like a Ø character, he could have used a dotted zero I suppose although these kinds of details are capable of spurring wars. Anyway, it looks nice in everything I switched over... except Komodo Edit which renders the line heights wrong at pts lower than 14. I'm willing to blame that on the editor though. Highly recommend it.

rgiar 16y ago

Another nice choice, on the sans-serif side, is an APL font from dyalog (even if you're not an APL programmer). It has a certain old-school charm that pleases me. http://www.dyalog.com/downloads/fonts/Apl385.ttf http://www.dyalog.com/downloads/fonts/Apl385.ttf

alexandros 16y ago

This looks strange: In the 'all characters' tab, the Greek omega appears only with a stress, not in its regular form. Is this usual with fonts or a peculiarity of this one? I actually got excited to have a nice Greek-enabled font, but this threw me off.

mfukar 16y ago
Looks like there's a "normal" one; take a look at the sixth line in the 'All Characters' tab. I'm using it now and it's all good, too.

rue 16y ago

Hrm, the images on the site look fuzzy, could not stand to look at that for long. The font is also a bit too…expressive? The round shapes are very prominent. There seems to be some disproportion to some letters which makes text look uneven to my eyes. I use SGIscreen at 13px, no antialias. Edit: not the best showcase but here is an old screenshot: http://files.kittensoft.org/vim_ruby.png http://files.kittensoft.org/vim_ruby.png

bigfudge 16y ago
Am I the only person to set a 20px+ programming font? I have pretty good sight, but with a widescreen-ish macbook, you can easily get 120 chars in a window at that size and it's much easier to scan code.
- modoc 16y ago
  I have a 17" MBP and a 30" LCD and I happily use an 11px font (Monaco or Manlo). 20px would seem silly to me, no offense. I have room for 120 chars, 120 lines, and plenty of space for tech design docs, API guides, terminals, etc....

fr0sty 16y ago

What pt size do people use for their Anti-Aliased programming fonts? I currently use a 10pt bitmapped font and everytime I try a font that is 'smoothed' it ends up looking like out of focus dreck at that size. I'm curious whether I'm odd for using such a small typeface, noticing the effect of AA on such a small typeface, or caring about it. I can't decide which.

heresy 16y ago
Linux, Windows, or Mac? Point sizes vary due to DPI. I used 11pt on Windows, and ProFont (bitmap, 10 or 9, I don't recall) on Mac. I think it's only Windows where you can get relatively decent clarity for aliased fonts at a smallish point size, depending on how good it's hinted, due to how ClearType renders it. Mac is a bit heavy, and Linux is just bad, the shapes on Linux look nothing like any other OS. Aside: Yes, I know about the byte code interpreter option and patches to FreeType, but even with that it's still bad. Most programmers I work with unfortunately are just type blind (can't tell difference between Tahoma, Arial, and Segoe, and italic/non-italic of each, for example, leading to "interesting" font choices in UIs).
- fr0sty 16y ago
  Should have said Px size (given that we're talking bitmapped fonts)... I work on Linux(Redhat) with bitmapped fonts. ClearType screenshots (from my memory at least) have all still been fuzzy around the edges (at least for my taste).

drhodes 16y ago

Hey Mark, if you're reading this: your font looks fantastic, sincerely on par with Inconsolata. BUT, the pointer arrow -> renders with the dash off center from the point of the >. It's too much of a distraction to switch.

humblepie 16y ago

That's a good looking code font. However, I still love my Droid Sans Mono :)

sohooo 16y ago
Droid Sans Mono Dotted! ;)

bouncingsoul 16y ago

This font is not new. This re-release has been out over a year and its predecessor (Anonymous) has been around almost ten. I've seen it in plenty of "best programming fonts" articles. That said, it is nice to have something different from the usual simple sans model of most modern monospaces (e.g., Deja Vu Sans Mono, Consolas, and Inconsolata). Anonymous has a lot of character – which either interests or annoys you. It's been my default in Vim for some months now.

camiller 16y ago
Agreed. I've been using it for close to a year as my default in Eclipse, I like it a lot.
moondowner 16y ago
True, isn't really new, I use it since January. Though, there are two best "programming" fonts according to me: - free: Droid Sans Mono ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Droid_(font) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Droid_(font) ) - paid: Pragmata ( http://www.fsd.it/fonts/pragma.htm http://www.fsd.it/fonts/pragma.htm ) One thing I like about Inconsolata Pro is that it supports Cyrillic fonts (the other two also support), there are many good monospaced fonts which don't have Cyrillic support, and there are lot of programmers who like to make the comments in the code in their native language.
psadauskas 16y ago
I used it for a little bit, but as always, switched back to Envy Code R. At 12pt on my Mac Terminal, it renders with no anti-aliased blurriness. http://damieng.com/blog/2008/05/26/envy-code-r-preview-7-coding-font-released http://damieng.com/blog/2008/05/26/envy-code-r-preview-7-cod...
- dtf 16y ago
  I find OS X makes nice fonts like Envy look bloated, bold and ugly when I switch from Apple-prescribed black-on-white - where they look awesome - to my preferred white-on-black scheme. I have to stick to bitmap fonts like Terminus, SGIScreen and Dina when coding on Mac. Linux and Windows do not have this problem.

abalashov 16y ago

Unfortunately, its nice auto-hinted varieties do not kick in before 11 points, and doesn't really look nice until 12 pt. If I had an 11 or 12 point defaulted in my terminals, there is no way I'd be able to put more than one or two of them on one screen at most--and even then, with overlap--which sort of defeats the point. To use this font, I need it to work non-crudely at 9 or 10 pt too.

b3b0p 16y ago

I've been a die hard programmer font snob for years and have been using Bitstream Vera Sans Mono or Deja Vu Sans Mono. Mostly because it's free and can be used on all platforms. Then, Apple released Snow Leopard with Menlo. It had just enough small little changes that at a slightly smaller point size it was easier to read. I fell in love. I've actually now trained my self to really enjoy using 10 point unaliased Monaco on small screens and enjoy it immensely as well.

SoftwareMaven 16y ago
It's amazing how close Menlo and Deja Vu Sans Mono are. I like the lighter punctuation in Deja Vu but the = character is clearer in Menlo. I like the zero with a slash in Menlo, too.
- spicyj 16y ago
  You know, Menlo is based on Deja Vu Sans Mono. http://typophile.com/node/58625#comment-351070 http://typophile.com/node/58625#comment-351070

metra 16y ago

Why does the font matter? This is a serious question. I use the default font on all of my editors and I've never had a problem. I can tell ohs from zeros and els from ones, etc. And I don't care about different types of serifs or other typographical nuances. Do most of the advantages come when using alphabets besides English? Why are custom programming fonts so popular?

cletus 16y ago
Why is custom anything so popular? People have different ways they like working, routines and aesthetics. It's all just personal preference really. The font is simply about how easy it is to read and one's aesthetics sensibilities.
endtime 16y ago
A good font can make you more efficient. A font which is just as readable as another, but at a smaller size, gets more code on the screen. A font where you can more quickly distinguish 0 from O saves you some tiny sliver of time, yes, but more importantly, if the difference is great enough it can prevent distraction/context-switching.
eru 16y ago
I can't really give you a reasoned answer. But using a `wrong' font just bugs me enough, that I feel irritated all the time.

ecyrb 16y ago

apt-get install xfonts-terminus

scorpion032 16y ago

Droid Sans Mono. You can't improve over perfection; can you?

mdg 16y ago
It wasn't the font I was looking for.
- tekhammer 16y ago
  Move along.
MrRage 16y ago
Droid Sans Mono looks nice to me, but if you can't tell a zero apart from a capital o then you're asking for 30 minutes of trying to figure a really stupid bug at some point in your life.
- adbge 16y ago
  Droid ships with a "Droid Sans Mono Slashed" with a slashed zero -- at least on Gentoo.

doty 16y ago

I wonder what the world would be like if somebody designed a nice variable-width font for typesetting code. It would be different than a font designed for setting English, but I wonder if we wouldn't get the same benefits of beauty and legibility. I mean, it's kinda silly that we continue to program in fixed-width type, given what modern software can do with setting type on the fly...

Shorel 16y ago
The 'using spaces instead of tabs' issue seems to have something to do with this.
- __david__ 16y ago
  It's more than that--I tend to lean towards words with the same number of characters for variable names which helps make things line up. Variable width would kill that too.
  - doty 16y ago
    Do you think that you use fixed width fonts because you use words like that, or do you use words like that because you use fixed width fonts?
    - __david__ 16y ago
      Well, clearly the fixed width font came first in computer programming. So yeah, I'm sure I pick the words because I use a fixed width font. Using a variable width font would pose many problems to the editor and you'd have to have tabs on the "inside" of a line (as opposed to just having them on the front). That isn't necessarily bad, just much different from how I currently currently code. And aligning to a tab stop is not always what I want--you'd need a tab character that didn't mean "go to the next tab stop" but instead meant "line me up with the corresponding tab in the previous and next lines at the minimum possible distance". That seems annoying and probably not worth it.
16y ago

kreek 16y ago

Bitstream Vera Sans Mono 4 evah! :) Has a dot in the center of '0' which differentiates it from 'O' but is more readable than a slash. http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/GNOME/sources/ttf-bitstream-vera/1.10/ http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/GNOME/sources/ttf-bitstream-vera/1....

m0shen 16y ago

I've been using "Envy Code R" ( http://damieng.com/blog/2008/05/26/envy-code-r-preview-7-coding-font-released http://damieng.com/blog/2008/05/26/envy-code-r-preview-7-cod... ) for awhile. I find it much more readable.

daphoenix 16y ago

You can pry ProggySquare from my cold dead hands.

zebra 16y ago

Right now I am using Mensch font ( http://robey.lag.net/2010/06/21/mensch-font.html http://robey.lag.net/2010/06/21/mensch-font.html ). It is very readable and solid. I tried right now this post's font Anonymous Pro, also Envy Code R and Inconsolata but returned back to Mensch. They were not bad but I didn't liked them enough to switch.

igravious 16y ago
Mensch-Regular 13 pt. Anti alias is yum.

Shorel 16y ago

Thank you. This is the first 'programmer font' that I like enough to consider using instead of Lucida Console. Yes, others seem to look nice and whatever, but Lucida Console is efficient. More information in less space without looking crowded.

ajstarks 16y ago

Comparison on monospaced fonts: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ajstarks/3618903870/sizes/o/in/photostream/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/ajstarks/3618903870/sizes/o/in/...

ezy 16y ago

Not good enough at small resolutions, and looks horrible with light on dark colors. ProFontWindows doesn't suffer from this, and works at small sizes. http://www.tobias-jung.de/seekingprofont/ http://www.tobias-jung.de/seekingprofont/

Pistos2 16y ago

I've tried (and continue to try) several programming fonts, but always stick with Terminus. In my opinion, it is the most readable font at 8px, and I like being able to fit as much as possible in a screenful without losing readability. Most of the other fonts I've tried seem more suited for sizes 10pt and larger, and that's fine, I would consider them for usage in my web browser, or some other place. But my console windows are all Terminus.

__david__ 16y ago

Fonts are like religions. I still pray to god of bitmapped Monaco 10. 11 is good too. I've never seen anything that can shake my faith :-).

pbrumm 16y ago

in the i's and !'s the periods tend to run together. at 10pt everything else looks great

tekhammer 16y ago

I use my own customised bitmap font under Linux. I couldn't get the font working under OS-X, but didn't try very hard as Linux is on all my main machines. I have it here in case anyone is interested in it. It allows me to fit 4 terminals across on a 1920x1200 screen nicely with a bit of room to spare. http://wtf.geek.nz/2010/09/my-small-programmers-font/ http://wtf.geek.nz/2010/09/my-small-programmers-font/

pogos 16y ago

I love it. I think it's even better than consolas and I've been using consolas for years. ;(set-default-font "Consolas 11") (set-default-font "Anonymous Pro 11")