8 ms·

Every thread about programming fonts is not complete without mentioning the wonderful website https://app.programmingfonts.org https://app.programmingfonts.org

Every thread about programming fonts is not complete without mentioning the wonderful website https://app.programmingfonts.org https://app.programmingfonts.org (no affiliation, I just find it really useful) which lists all the free programming-related fonts with live preview (for example every single font from the article, and every one mentioned so far in every comment in this thread is already there in the app) - it allows quick one-click preview with custom text on each font, and has direct links for downloading said fonts. Every font from this thread is already there in the app so you might as well just try them all.

hammerton 7y ago
Thank you!!!! I've been looking for something like this for some time now.
rvanmil 7y ago
All free fonts I think? It doesn’t list for example Dank or Operator.
- Erlich_Bachman 7y ago
  That's probably the case, thank you, I should have mentioned that.
- klageveen 7y ago
  Indeed, just the free ones. Although perhaps I should list the commercial ones too in some way. That said, I do tend to feature them in the tumblr blog, so you can search that for a preview, background info and a link.
INTPenis 7y ago
That is a truly fantastic site but it doesn't mention https://dank.sh/ https://dank.sh/ which I first heard about in this thread. Just to nitpick. But I am right now going through every one of those fonts in the app to compare with the one I've used for almost a decade now.
- exergy 7y ago
  Do you like it? One of the things that really gets in the way of comprehension for me are typefaces with too much personality. These cutesy italics etc. really seem to affect my ability to get on with the job at hand. This is why, despite trying, I've yet to find something that can outdo Consolas on Windows. I tried Fira this and that, Source code pro and a bunch of others from Google Fonts. They all are inferior to Consolas in my eyes. They'll either be missing the slotted '0', or look crowded in small sizes etc.
  - INTPenis 7y ago
    Do I like Dank Mono? I am indifferent to it. It hasn't sold me on switching from Source Code Pro. It's better than a lot of other fonts I've seen on programmingfonts.org so far. But just because a font is good or on par with my current one doesn't mean I'll use it. Force of habit is a big factor.
    - exergy 7y ago
      The guy from PracticalTypography also recommends Source Code Pro as his free monospaced font of choice.
  - atomi 7y ago
    Microsoft has another font called Cascadia which I think is their attempt to improve Fira Code.
    - michaelcampbell 7y ago
      I've moved to it recently and is my new favorite. Mainly because my eyes are getting old so I don't need it to look good at 7 pt since I couldn't see it anyway. And I like thicker fonts like this. My one complaint is the tilde.
      - pdimitar 7y ago
        Have you tried Ubuntu Mono? It's not as thick but is quite readable. Also their bold variant might satisfy you if the regular doesn't. DejaVu Mono is also quite adequate.
aryamaan 7y ago
I am genuinely interested in knowing the appeal programmers find in fonts.
- zadokshi 7y ago
  Im not sure I follow. Are you saying you don't understand why people who stare at letters on a screen all day every day for a living might have an interest in the fonts used on said screen?
- ChrisSD 7y ago
  A good programming font helps avoid confusion. For example, it should be clear if a character is l, I, or 1 without having to see them next to each other (also o, O and 0 as well as others). A font should also make reading code as pleasant as possible (though of course this is highly subjective). When you consider that programmers spend most of their time reading code, it's not surprising that many programmers care about the font being used.
- mastry 7y ago
  We stare at text for hours on end, every day. We want the text to be functional... and pleasant to look at. I change fonts frequently, just to spice up my life - it's a little like changing your desktop background on a regular basis.
- vanderZwan 7y ago
  Well, we spend almost all of our time reading code. I think it only makes sense we develop strong opinions about the font we do that in. It's an essential part of the interface.
- gnuvince 7y ago
  Practically, we look at text all day long, so having a font that is easy to read is good ergonomics. A font may be good for code, but might not work as well in a tool like htop or gotop. Monospaced fonts are also interesting from an artistic perspective that resonates with programmers. Font designers are able to be expressive and original despite — or perhaps because of — the constraints of the problem: all characters must have the same width and the text should be readable for long periods of time, often at small sizes.
enriquto 7y ago
what I don't like about thus site is that there are no large bitmap fonts (not even the x11 standard bitmaps, which are great)
- klageveen 7y ago
  What bitmap fonts do you miss? The site is currently restricted to fonts with a license that allow me to serve a web font for the live preview. So while there are a bunch of bitmap fonts in there, there might be some missing. I love to find out about new fonts though.
  - enriquto 7y ago
    i mean the standard "fixed" X window fonts, that come with x.org and have a large variety of sizes. They are typically the default font for xterm. They are everywhere, in debian for example, so no problem with the license.
    - yuubi 7y ago
      In the US at last check, bitmap fonts weren't subject to copyright. Also, the X11 fonts I've looked at had a license string something like "these glyphs are unencumbered".
  - hakfoo 7y ago
    I suspect those X11 bitmap fonts are in arcane 1980s formats that would require a chain of conversions-- from bitmap to vector to get them to Postscript Type 1 or TTF, and then from TTF to WOFF.
    - klageveen 7y ago
      Yes, I’ve seen a lot with old formats. I don’t think the bitmaps themselves are a problem, I already have a bunch (maybe they are faux bitmap though, not sure actually). And they don’t need to be woff though, that just adds some compression and prevents installation. The latter of course not being an issue for the fonts that are featured here.
eps 7y ago
Doesn’t have Dina :P
- klageveen 7y ago
  Sadly, Dina is only available as a Windows FON file format, which I can't use or host in a web app.
  - eps 7y ago
    There are at least 2 TTF conversions if you search around. E.g. https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=15281.0 https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=15281.0
    - colejohnson66 7y ago
      Not allowed by the license usually
      - eps 7y ago
        The Dina font is free. You are welcome to use, distribute and modify it however you want, just don't use it for anything illegal or claim that you made it.* https://www.dcmembers.com/jibsen/download/61/ https://www.dcmembers.com/jibsen/download/61/
        andrewshadura 7y ago
        Hmm, that sounds like discrimination of fields of endeavour => not open source :'(
yellowapple 7y ago
Seems to be missing Computer Modern's Typewriter Text face (a.k.a. "CMU Typewriter Text"), which was my primary monospaced typeface (and still is on all except my work laptop, which I switched over to Fantasque Sans Mono since it's a better pairing with Comic Neue). It's a lovely font, the only fault being the lack of a slotted 0.
jolmg 7y ago
:/ The bitmap fonts are rendered with anti-aliasing. That's too bad. The advantage of bitmap fonts is how crisp they look. Here, they're pretty hard to read at small sizes.
- naikrovek 7y ago
  Only if they aren't at their native point size. If you're on chrome, then you're right, because chrome renders how it wants, in classic "I know better than you" style.

hammerton 7y ago

Thank you!!!! I've been looking for something like this for some time now.

rvanmil 7y ago

All free fonts I think? It doesn’t list for example Dank or Operator.

Erlich_Bachman 7y ago
That's probably the case, thank you, I should have mentioned that.
klageveen 7y ago
Indeed, just the free ones. Although perhaps I should list the commercial ones too in some way. That said, I do tend to feature them in the tumblr blog, so you can search that for a preview, background info and a link.

INTPenis 7y ago

That is a truly fantastic site but it doesn't mention https://dank.sh/ https://dank.sh/ which I first heard about in this thread. Just to nitpick. But I am right now going through every one of those fonts in the app to compare with the one I've used for almost a decade now.

exergy 7y ago
Do you like it? One of the things that really gets in the way of comprehension for me are typefaces with too much personality. These cutesy italics etc. really seem to affect my ability to get on with the job at hand. This is why, despite trying, I've yet to find something that can outdo Consolas on Windows. I tried Fira this and that, Source code pro and a bunch of others from Google Fonts. They all are inferior to Consolas in my eyes. They'll either be missing the slotted '0', or look crowded in small sizes etc.
- INTPenis 7y ago
  Do I like Dank Mono? I am indifferent to it. It hasn't sold me on switching from Source Code Pro. It's better than a lot of other fonts I've seen on programmingfonts.org so far. But just because a font is good or on par with my current one doesn't mean I'll use it. Force of habit is a big factor.
  - exergy 7y ago
    The guy from PracticalTypography also recommends Source Code Pro as his free monospaced font of choice.
- atomi 7y ago
  Microsoft has another font called Cascadia which I think is their attempt to improve Fira Code.
  - michaelcampbell 7y ago
    I've moved to it recently and is my new favorite. Mainly because my eyes are getting old so I don't need it to look good at 7 pt since I couldn't see it anyway. And I like thicker fonts like this. My one complaint is the tilde.
    - pdimitar 7y ago
      Have you tried Ubuntu Mono? It's not as thick but is quite readable. Also their bold variant might satisfy you if the regular doesn't. DejaVu Mono is also quite adequate.

aryamaan 7y ago

I am genuinely interested in knowing the appeal programmers find in fonts.

zadokshi 7y ago
Im not sure I follow. Are you saying you don't understand why people who stare at letters on a screen all day every day for a living might have an interest in the fonts used on said screen?
ChrisSD 7y ago
A good programming font helps avoid confusion. For example, it should be clear if a character is l, I, or 1 without having to see them next to each other (also o, O and 0 as well as others). A font should also make reading code as pleasant as possible (though of course this is highly subjective). When you consider that programmers spend most of their time reading code, it's not surprising that many programmers care about the font being used.
mastry 7y ago
We stare at text for hours on end, every day. We want the text to be functional... and pleasant to look at. I change fonts frequently, just to spice up my life - it's a little like changing your desktop background on a regular basis.
vanderZwan 7y ago
Well, we spend almost all of our time reading code. I think it only makes sense we develop strong opinions about the font we do that in. It's an essential part of the interface.
gnuvince 7y ago
Practically, we look at text all day long, so having a font that is easy to read is good ergonomics. A font may be good for code, but might not work as well in a tool like htop or gotop. Monospaced fonts are also interesting from an artistic perspective that resonates with programmers. Font designers are able to be expressive and original despite — or perhaps because of — the constraints of the problem: all characters must have the same width and the text should be readable for long periods of time, often at small sizes.

enriquto 7y ago

what I don't like about thus site is that there are no large bitmap fonts (not even the x11 standard bitmaps, which are great)

klageveen 7y ago
What bitmap fonts do you miss? The site is currently restricted to fonts with a license that allow me to serve a web font for the live preview. So while there are a bunch of bitmap fonts in there, there might be some missing. I love to find out about new fonts though.
- enriquto 7y ago
  i mean the standard "fixed" X window fonts, that come with x.org and have a large variety of sizes. They are typically the default font for xterm. They are everywhere, in debian for example, so no problem with the license.
  - yuubi 7y ago
    In the US at last check, bitmap fonts weren't subject to copyright. Also, the X11 fonts I've looked at had a license string something like "these glyphs are unencumbered".
- hakfoo 7y ago
  I suspect those X11 bitmap fonts are in arcane 1980s formats that would require a chain of conversions-- from bitmap to vector to get them to Postscript Type 1 or TTF, and then from TTF to WOFF.
  - klageveen 7y ago
    Yes, I’ve seen a lot with old formats. I don’t think the bitmaps themselves are a problem, I already have a bunch (maybe they are faux bitmap though, not sure actually). And they don’t need to be woff though, that just adds some compression and prevents installation. The latter of course not being an issue for the fonts that are featured here.

eps 7y ago

Doesn’t have Dina :P

klageveen 7y ago
Sadly, Dina is only available as a Windows FON file format, which I can't use or host in a web app.
- eps 7y ago
  There are at least 2 TTF conversions if you search around. E.g. https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=15281.0 https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=15281.0
  - colejohnson66 7y ago
    Not allowed by the license usually
    - eps 7y ago
      The Dina font is free. You are welcome to use, distribute and modify it however you want, just don't use it for anything illegal or claim that you made it.* https://www.dcmembers.com/jibsen/download/61/ https://www.dcmembers.com/jibsen/download/61/
      - andrewshadura 7y ago
        Hmm, that sounds like discrimination of fields of endeavour => not open source :'(

yellowapple 7y ago

Seems to be missing Computer Modern's Typewriter Text face (a.k.a. "CMU Typewriter Text"), which was my primary monospaced typeface (and still is on all except my work laptop, which I switched over to Fantasque Sans Mono since it's a better pairing with Comic Neue). It's a lovely font, the only fault being the lack of a slotted 0.

jolmg 7y ago

:/ The bitmap fonts are rendered with anti-aliasing. That's too bad. The advantage of bitmap fonts is how crisp they look. Here, they're pretty hard to read at small sizes.

naikrovek 7y ago
Only if they aren't at their native point size. If you're on chrome, then you're right, because chrome renders how it wants, in classic "I know better than you" style.