4 ms·

Can somebody explain to me why narrow programming fonts seem to be trending so strongly lately? I really don't understand, personally. I have a much, MUCH hard

Can somebody explain to me why narrow programming fonts seem to be trending so strongly lately? I really don't understand, personally. I have a much, MUCH harder time reading a narrow font. I also find it aesthetically inferior to a "non-narrow" font so much that even if it was as readable or more, I feel like I would have a hard time getting myself to use it. Is there some other aspect that people like, such as being able to work in a narrower editor window? If this is purely subjective, why aren't non-narrow fonts also circulating on the front page every week?

delinka 7y ago
Fitting more on the screen horizontally. Wrapped lines are a different cognitive load. I personally don't care for the narrower fonts, but I can see the utility.
- grawprog 7y ago
  >Fitting more on the screen horizontally. But screens for the most part have only been getting wider. I could see this in the days of square CRT's but most screens are fairly wide these days.
  - seanmcdirmid 7y ago
    Reading a wide line of text is still hard visually, your eyes get tired from all the horizontal movement right and left. Better to use the wider screen for multiple buffers of narrower code.
  - mikekchar 7y ago
    Another person posted something similar in the thread, but I'll reiterate: for people with poor vision, narrow fonts allow you to increase the font size, have a reasonable number of columns on the screen and have it fit into your field of vision. It's a life saver for me (usually coding at 24pt on a 13" monitor, which is as big as feels comfortable for me).
aidenn0 7y ago
I don't get it either. back in the 4:3 days, I liked narrow fonts just so I could more easily view side-by-side code (e.g. vimdiff). These days, with giant monitors that are never more narrow than 8:5, I can have 4 files wide and be fine with a more traditional width font.
tobr 7y ago
Some people fool themselves into thinking that they can save space by using a very condensed font. That’s not true. The squashed shapes makes the letters more similar, which makes the text less legible, which means you need to compensate by pushing up the overall size. You can only save space by optimizing for the most legible typeface, allowing you to reduce the size. The Victor Mono site is a perfect example: the body text is set quite large, with very generous leading, and still it is very hard to read, partly because of the stretched letter shapes.
- seanmcdirmid 7y ago
  If you want to save space, just go with a proportional programming font. Legibility goes up because of kerning, and space is saved at the sacrifice of losing the ability to do ascii art.
macintux 7y ago
I didn’t understand the appeal of narrow fonts until I switched to Iosevka, and now I’m a big fan. I don’t see any readability problems, I can increase the text (important for my old eyes) without losing horizontal screen real estate, and I find the overall aesthetic quite pleasing. https://typeof.net/Iosevka/ https://typeof.net/Iosevka/
- faizmokhtar 7y ago
  Thanks for this. I've been using Fira Code for years and recently switched to Go Mono with font size 14. I tried Iosevka yesterday and so far I love it. I can increase the font size to 17 and not lose the horizontal screen real estate. The ligatures and the slashed zero are definitely a plus!
  - macintux 7y ago
    I just discovered it a week ago via this comment and the resulting endorsements: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21303410 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21303410
quickthrower2 7y ago
Pro tip - Consolas is good enough. Any other font won't make you faster, happier or wealthier.
- labster 7y ago
  The font is always sharper on the other side of the screen.
  - quickthrower2 7y ago
    Yes and don't get me started on Dvorak!
    - aeneasmackenzie 7y ago
      Everyone's using QGMLWB now.
aasasd 7y ago
That's not narrow, though. It's very similar to a proportional font, like the one right here on HN. Which is why Victor is already in my notes under ‘try out,’ as I'm a bit tired of rather wide Anonymous Pro―like I get tired of wide Verdana or Gotham. But the too-geometric lines are off-putting.
- RBerenguel 7y ago
  Have you tried Monoid [0]? [0]: https://larsenwork.com/monoid/ https://larsenwork.com/monoid/
  - aasasd 7y ago
    It's a bit better, but still its strokes are strictly same-width—overall it's a pretty uptight modern grotesque. The goals seem different from mine, I don't really need miniature text. I'd really like me a humanist monospace font with a bent toward serif-style shapes―particularly, a modulated-stroke font would be cool. Grotesques get really tiring after a while.
    - RBerenguel 7y ago
      I've found Monoid to be one of the most "eye relaxing" fonts, but I have something for grotesque-sans styled. I use it with very large font sizes though, so the goal is probably different. Just wanted to make sure you knew of it!

delinka 7y ago

Fitting more on the screen horizontally. Wrapped lines are a different cognitive load. I personally don't care for the narrower fonts, but I can see the utility.

grawprog 7y ago
>Fitting more on the screen horizontally. But screens for the most part have only been getting wider. I could see this in the days of square CRT's but most screens are fairly wide these days.
- seanmcdirmid 7y ago
  Reading a wide line of text is still hard visually, your eyes get tired from all the horizontal movement right and left. Better to use the wider screen for multiple buffers of narrower code.
- mikekchar 7y ago
  Another person posted something similar in the thread, but I'll reiterate: for people with poor vision, narrow fonts allow you to increase the font size, have a reasonable number of columns on the screen and have it fit into your field of vision. It's a life saver for me (usually coding at 24pt on a 13" monitor, which is as big as feels comfortable for me).

aidenn0 7y ago

I don't get it either. back in the 4:3 days, I liked narrow fonts just so I could more easily view side-by-side code (e.g. vimdiff). These days, with giant monitors that are never more narrow than 8:5, I can have 4 files wide and be fine with a more traditional width font.

tobr 7y ago

Some people fool themselves into thinking that they can save space by using a very condensed font. That’s not true. The squashed shapes makes the letters more similar, which makes the text less legible, which means you need to compensate by pushing up the overall size. You can only save space by optimizing for the most legible typeface, allowing you to reduce the size. The Victor Mono site is a perfect example: the body text is set quite large, with very generous leading, and still it is very hard to read, partly because of the stretched letter shapes.

seanmcdirmid 7y ago
If you want to save space, just go with a proportional programming font. Legibility goes up because of kerning, and space is saved at the sacrifice of losing the ability to do ascii art.

macintux 7y ago

I didn’t understand the appeal of narrow fonts until I switched to Iosevka, and now I’m a big fan. I don’t see any readability problems, I can increase the text (important for my old eyes) without losing horizontal screen real estate, and I find the overall aesthetic quite pleasing. https://typeof.net/Iosevka/ https://typeof.net/Iosevka/

faizmokhtar 7y ago
Thanks for this. I've been using Fira Code for years and recently switched to Go Mono with font size 14. I tried Iosevka yesterday and so far I love it. I can increase the font size to 17 and not lose the horizontal screen real estate. The ligatures and the slashed zero are definitely a plus!
- macintux 7y ago
  I just discovered it a week ago via this comment and the resulting endorsements: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21303410 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21303410

quickthrower2 7y ago

Pro tip - Consolas is good enough. Any other font won't make you faster, happier or wealthier.

labster 7y ago
The font is always sharper on the other side of the screen.
- quickthrower2 7y ago
  Yes and don't get me started on Dvorak!
  - aeneasmackenzie 7y ago
    Everyone's using QGMLWB now.

aasasd 7y ago

That's not narrow, though. It's very similar to a proportional font, like the one right here on HN. Which is why Victor is already in my notes under ‘try out,’ as I'm a bit tired of rather wide Anonymous Pro―like I get tired of wide Verdana or Gotham. But the too-geometric lines are off-putting.

RBerenguel 7y ago
Have you tried Monoid [0]? [0]: https://larsenwork.com/monoid/ https://larsenwork.com/monoid/
- aasasd 7y ago
  It's a bit better, but still its strokes are strictly same-width—overall it's a pretty uptight modern grotesque. The goals seem different from mine, I don't really need miniature text. I'd really like me a humanist monospace font with a bent toward serif-style shapes―particularly, a modulated-stroke font would be cool. Grotesques get really tiring after a while.
  - RBerenguel 7y ago
    I've found Monoid to be one of the most "eye relaxing" fonts, but I have something for grotesque-sans styled. I use it with very large font sizes though, so the goal is probably different. Just wanted to make sure you knew of it!