3 ms·

I mean... The existence of ligatures is almost by definition strictly aesthetic. And on that measure, it either brings you a smile to notice that f and i, for

by taeric 5y ago

I mean... The existence of ligatures is almost by definition strictly aesthetic. And on that measure, it either brings you a smile to notice that f and i, for example, are joined; or you didn't even notice it. That is, I won't claim they help readability. But they do make me smile, and don't seem to hurt. (I'm assuming they disappear on copy operations. Mac OS' habit of replacing -- with a longer dash is painful when sending cli arguments.)

dsr_ 5y ago
There's a third option: "What is that?" When I'm reading fiction, I generally don't mind ligatures. I find them oppressively obscurantist in any situation where I want to know clearly and distinctly what each character is -- i.e. code and science/math/engineering.
- taeric 5y ago
  I'd wager that the vast majority of the time, you just don't notice them. About the only time they are easily visible is in large type, when they really shouldn't be used. It's kind of like right justified text. Done well, it shouldn't be noticed how it was done.
  - dsr_ 5y ago
    Please don't tell me what I do and don't see when I just told you what I see and how I feel about it.
    - taeric 5y ago
      Not sure why you are taking offense in that. I wrote that they make me smile. Despite that, I'd also wager that the vast majority of the time, I don't notice them.