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Curated List of Open-Source Typefaces

193 points by beefhash 7y ago

m-p-3 7y ago
I was wondering if someone could send them a suggestion, and it's possible to do it under the form of a Github issue https://github.com/ubuwaits/beautiful-web-type/issues https://github.com/ubuwaits/beautiful-web-type/issues
johnday 7y ago
This is a very nice resource. Thank you for sharing.
ilikehurdles 7y ago
I like the presentation, and that the full list is immediately available at the bottom. I decided to kick Fira Code and have been using the IBM Plex family of typefaces throughout my editors, and it has really grown on me. It also looks great at a lot of sizes without anti-aliasing. Personally, I use IBM Plex Sans Condensed in UIs + Plex Mono in editors.
behnamoh 7y ago
A while ago, Inter UI was introduced on HN. I decided to give it a shot and personally I'm more satisfied with it than many paid fonts like, say, Helvetica. (Disclaimer: Have no affiliation with the TypeFace creator).
- ubuwaits 7y ago
  Lots of people have suggested adding Inter UI to this project. I've held off for two reasons: the creator, Rasmus, has built a very good site for the typeface himself and the typeface is under active development, which means my overview would constantly be in danger of being out of date.
  - CharlesW 7y ago
    > Lots of people have suggested adding Inter UI to this project. For the sake of people who will be very happy to discover it, please do add it (unless you think it doesn't deserve a place on your list). IMHO, regarding your concerns: (1) You can have a prominent link to the Inter UI site, as I'd expect you would to any typeface's web home. (2) Every typeface you include has gone through a bunch of revisions. Even if you don't yet have an automated way of handling updates, there's still value in the aggregation.
  - bytematic 7y ago
    Why does it matter if it is out-of-date?
ubuwaits 7y ago
I'm the maintainer of this project. Happy to take any feedback or suggestions. At the end of last year/beginning of this year, I was working on this site heavily and attempted to use Patreon to fund the project. Ultimately, I didn't see enough interest and scaled back my time on it. I still think it's a worthy goal to give an in-depth overview of the best typefaces, but I'm still looking for the right way of promoting and funding the project.
- astatine 7y ago
  Thanks for a very interesting and well presented collection. The suggested uses section is thoughtful. I was wondering if it might be possible to add some info on the original motivation/intent/application of the typeface. This is to see if it can help suggest a typeface's "natural" use.
- noir_lord 7y ago
  No suggestions but the design and utility is beautiful.
- lallysingh 7y ago
  Have you considered a book? Maybe update it every few years. Lots of projects don't want to spend big on type but the designer can still probably expense a printed book to act as a catalog.
- beefhash 7y ago
  The website is called Beautiful Web Type. Nonetheless, it would be nice if you could also add recommendations for print, not only screen reading. I'm not sure how much this influences your decisions, but it might be worth screening fonts for print (and low-resolution print) specifically.
- mortenjorck 7y ago
  This is an excellent resource, and I think what impresses me most, beyond the design and comprehensiveness, is the curation. I considered myself fairly familiar with the current SIL type landscape, yet I had never heard of half of the type families on the home page, all of which look to be of a caliber with the best open-source (or otherwise) types out there.
tetra_proxy 7y ago
Have you thought about a section for special use case fonts like OpenDyslexic?
jfk13 7y ago
I was surprised not to see Gentium there; it's (IMO) a beautiful face, and has particularly strong support for less-common languages, which is often overlooked.
- theandrewbailey 7y ago
  NotoSans also has strong language and character set support, though I like it for its single story "g". https://www.google.com/get/noto/ https://www.google.com/get/noto/
- Freak_NL 7y ago
  I filed an issue after the last time this project was mentioned here (in a comment) last week: https://github.com/ubuwaits/beautiful-web-type/issues/33 https://github.com/ubuwaits/beautiful-web-type/issues/33
bloopernova 7y ago
This is a super cool website, thank you for sharing it. My go-to in most situations is still the Source Pro family, but so many people seem to swear by Fira Code that I need to give it a try. (Although I'm not yet sold on ligatures) Source Code Pro just seems to fit all my applications well - terminals, emacs, vim, visual studio code. Plus the serif and sans serif versions look good to me in the browser.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
omnimus 7y ago
Is there any reason behind the ordering? Like why is Space Grotesk first?
- ubuwaits 7y ago
  The typefaces on the home page are the latest added to the site.

193 points by beefhash 7y ago

I was wondering if someone could send them a suggestion, and it's possible to do it under the form of a Github issue https://github.com/ubuwaits/beautiful-web-type/issues https://github.com/ubuwaits/beautiful-web-type/issues

johnday 7y ago

This is a very nice resource. Thank you for sharing.

ilikehurdles 7y ago

I like the presentation, and that the full list is immediately available at the bottom. I decided to kick Fira Code and have been using the IBM Plex family of typefaces throughout my editors, and it has really grown on me. It also looks great at a lot of sizes without anti-aliasing. Personally, I use IBM Plex Sans Condensed in UIs + Plex Mono in editors.

behnamoh 7y ago

A while ago, Inter UI was introduced on HN. I decided to give it a shot and personally I'm more satisfied with it than many paid fonts like, say, Helvetica. (Disclaimer: Have no affiliation with the TypeFace creator).

ubuwaits 7y ago
Lots of people have suggested adding Inter UI to this project. I've held off for two reasons: the creator, Rasmus, has built a very good site for the typeface himself and the typeface is under active development, which means my overview would constantly be in danger of being out of date.
- CharlesW 7y ago
  > Lots of people have suggested adding Inter UI to this project. For the sake of people who will be very happy to discover it, please do add it (unless you think it doesn't deserve a place on your list). IMHO, regarding your concerns: (1) You can have a prominent link to the Inter UI site, as I'd expect you would to any typeface's web home. (2) Every typeface you include has gone through a bunch of revisions. Even if you don't yet have an automated way of handling updates, there's still value in the aggregation.
- bytematic 7y ago
  Why does it matter if it is out-of-date?

ubuwaits 7y ago

I'm the maintainer of this project. Happy to take any feedback or suggestions. At the end of last year/beginning of this year, I was working on this site heavily and attempted to use Patreon to fund the project. Ultimately, I didn't see enough interest and scaled back my time on it. I still think it's a worthy goal to give an in-depth overview of the best typefaces, but I'm still looking for the right way of promoting and funding the project.

astatine 7y ago
Thanks for a very interesting and well presented collection. The suggested uses section is thoughtful. I was wondering if it might be possible to add some info on the original motivation/intent/application of the typeface. This is to see if it can help suggest a typeface's "natural" use.
noir_lord 7y ago
No suggestions but the design and utility is beautiful.
lallysingh 7y ago
Have you considered a book? Maybe update it every few years. Lots of projects don't want to spend big on type but the designer can still probably expense a printed book to act as a catalog.
beefhash 7y ago
The website is called Beautiful Web Type. Nonetheless, it would be nice if you could also add recommendations for print, not only screen reading. I'm not sure how much this influences your decisions, but it might be worth screening fonts for print (and low-resolution print) specifically.
mortenjorck 7y ago
This is an excellent resource, and I think what impresses me most, beyond the design and comprehensiveness, is the curation. I considered myself fairly familiar with the current SIL type landscape, yet I had never heard of half of the type families on the home page, all of which look to be of a caliber with the best open-source (or otherwise) types out there.

tetra_proxy 7y ago

Have you thought about a section for special use case fonts like OpenDyslexic?

jfk13 7y ago

I was surprised not to see Gentium there; it's (IMO) a beautiful face, and has particularly strong support for less-common languages, which is often overlooked.

theandrewbailey 7y ago
NotoSans also has strong language and character set support, though I like it for its single story "g". https://www.google.com/get/noto/ https://www.google.com/get/noto/
Freak_NL 7y ago
I filed an issue after the last time this project was mentioned here (in a comment) last week: https://github.com/ubuwaits/beautiful-web-type/issues/33 https://github.com/ubuwaits/beautiful-web-type/issues/33

bloopernova 7y ago

This is a super cool website, thank you for sharing it. My go-to in most situations is still the Source Pro family, but so many people seem to swear by Fira Code that I need to give it a try. (Although I'm not yet sold on ligatures) Source Code Pro just seems to fit all my applications well - terminals, emacs, vim, visual studio code. Plus the serif and sans serif versions look good to me in the browser.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

omnimus 7y ago

Is there any reason behind the ordering? Like why is Space Grotesk first?

ubuwaits 7y ago
The typefaces on the home page are the latest added to the site.