6 ms·

It's too grotesk. I think Apple accidentally set everyone off on the "search for the perfect sans font" but neither this nor the new Discord font is anywhere ne

It's too grotesk. I think Apple accidentally set everyone off on the "search for the perfect sans font" but neither this nor the new Discord font is anywhere near as nice as San Francisco. If you want a clean sans font, I'd highly recommend Plex sans: https://fonts.google.com/specimen/IBM+Plex+Sans https://fonts.google.com/specimen/IBM+Plex+Sans Very straightforward, highly legible at all weights, normal-human-being-style kerning and nicely tucked edges. If you're looking for something more flavorful than Roboto, use this or Inter. Please don't design your own eye-melting garbage, for my sake.

Tao3300 4y ago
Huh? It's not hardly grotesk at all. It's doric revival with a dash of fringe bauhaus. Grotesk! smh
smcleod 4y ago
Absolutely agree, and Plex Mono for monospace!
BuckyBeaver 4y ago
Nice call on the Plex Sans, for at least one major reason: The capital "i" has a crossbar. Any font that doesn't have a proper capital "i" (meaning one WITH CROSSBARS) should be rejected, especially for any kind of technical use. If you can't tell the difference between a lower-case L and a 1, the font is useless. And really the same goes for a capital O or zero.
- cratermoon 4y ago
  The requirements for programming fonts are a high bar. A few things to ponder: O0D L1l| S8 `' https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5614409/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5614409/
- ruuda 4y ago
  Inter has this as an alternate.
- nagyf 4y ago
  Plex's capital "O" and it's 0 (zero) is pretty much indistinguishable.
  - mechanicum 4y ago
    They don’t have to be. The entire Plex family has plain, slashed and dotted zero glyph variants.
  - BuckyBeaver 4y ago
    That's unfortunate. One thing I don't like about Plex aesthetically is that the italic faces have right-facing serifs on the bottom of most letters for some reason. It's needlessly inconsistent. Here's a list of sans-serif fonts I've found that have proper capital "i": Chivo (O and zero different width): https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Chivo https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Chivo Clear Sans (O and zero indistinguishable): https://www.fontsquirrel.com/fonts/clear-sans https://www.fontsquirrel.com/fonts/clear-sans Comme (O and zero different width): https://www.fontsquirrel.com/fonts/comme https://www.fontsquirrel.com/fonts/comme Darker-grotesque (O and zero different width): https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Darker+Grotesque https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Darker+Grotesque Dejavu-sans-mono (zero clearly different): https://www.fontsquirrel.com/fonts/dejavu-sans-mono https://www.fontsquirrel.com/fonts/dejavu-sans-mono Didact-gothic (O and zero different width): https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Didact+Gothic https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Didact+Gothic Droid-sans (O and zero different width): https://fonts.adobe.com/fonts/droid-sans https://fonts.adobe.com/fonts/droid-sans Droid-sans-mono (O and zero different width): https://fonts.adobe.com/fonts/droid-sans-mono https://fonts.adobe.com/fonts/droid-sans-mono Luciole (O and zero slightly different width): https://www.luciole-vision.com/luciole-en.html https://www.luciole-vision.com/luciole-en.html Metrophobic (O and zero different width): https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Metrophobic https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Metrophobic Monda (O and zero different width): https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Monda https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Monda Nobile (O and zero different height): https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Monda https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Monda Noto-mono (zero clearly different): https://fonts.google.com/noto/specimen/Noto+Sans+Mono https://fonts.google.com/noto/specimen/Noto+Sans+Mono Noto-sans (O and zero different width): https://fonts.google.com/noto/specimen/Noto+Sans https://fonts.google.com/noto/specimen/Noto+Sans Sen (O and zero different width): https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Sen https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Sen Tiresias-infofont (O and zero indistinguishable): https://www.fontsquirrel.com/fonts/tiresias-infofont https://www.fontsquirrel.com/fonts/tiresias-infofont Victor-mono (zero clearly different): https://rubjo.github.io/victor-mono/ https://rubjo.github.io/victor-mono/
CharlesW 4y ago
> If you're looking for something more flavorful than Roboto, use this or Inter. Speaking of which, Inter 4.0 is in beta and looking really good. Now's a great time for type aficionados to try it out and offer feedback! https://github.com/rsms/inter/releases https://github.com/rsms/inter/releases
- satvikpendem 4y ago
  Are there any differences between 3 and 4? I didn't see any screenshots anywhere.
  - CharlesW 4y ago
    Highlights from 4.0b7 release notes: • Six new "Display" designs which used to be a separate font, Inter Display. Now integrated into the variable font as an optical-size axis (opsz) • Coordinate system changed to 2048. This addresses some issues with older (10+ years) postscript printer drivers and some software • slnt (italic) variable-font axis has been removed and there are now two variable fonts, one roman and one italic, both with wght and opsz axes. This addresses issues with web browsers unable to reliably apply italic styles. Also makes it possible for the Italic designs to diverge from the upright "roman" design, which is not possible when italic is an axis of one variable font. • Lots of improvements to glyph design of all styles, kerning and metadata
    - satvikpendem 4y ago
      Thanks!
neilpanchal 4y ago
> Please don't design your own eye-melting garbage, for my sake. I think there is still so much room to experiment with Grotesk typefaces. Perhaps the frustration is caused by everygoing going Druk in Magazine design and custom Corporate typography that's just incredibly...corporate. Every other grotesk fork of Akzidenz tends to follow Helvetica's path and the New York aesthetic. Public apathy is understandable. The other fork of Akzidenz is Univers and its derivates; they are wonderful, especially for technical communication. I can't pinpoint why, perhaps it is nostalgia, but perhaps it is its formality and the way it is kerned by Adrian. Genius. I wrote about it on HN a few years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19621544 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19621544 There are only a couple of decent typefaces that are alternatives to Univers. Unica77 and Swiss 721, both again trying to bring Helvetica into the Univers business. So, I've taken up the task of propelling Univers forward. I hope it won't melt your eyes.
- flobosg 4y ago
  Looking forward to the end result!
satvikpendem 4y ago
Plex Sans is too angular for me, the "f", "g" and "t" for example. I like Grotesk style sans serif fonts personally, there still isn't an amazing one out there.
smcl 4y ago
I hate to admit it since IBM are like the OG "big bad company" but their Open Source programming fonts are the ones I like the best out of those that came out recently (Source Code Pro, Cascadia, JetBrains Mono, Mononoki, Go Mono, etc - see https://www.programmingfonts.org https://www.programmingfonts.org)
lcnmrn 4y ago
Not as nice as Route 159: https://dotcolon.net/font/route159/ https://dotcolon.net/font/route159/
- BuckyBeaver 4y ago
  No crossbars on the capital "i", so no dice.
loudandskittish 4y ago
...I can't deal with that f

Tao3300 4y ago

Huh? It's not hardly grotesk at all. It's doric revival with a dash of fringe bauhaus. Grotesk! smh

smcleod 4y ago

Absolutely agree, and Plex Mono for monospace!

BuckyBeaver 4y ago

Nice call on the Plex Sans, for at least one major reason: The capital "i" has a crossbar. Any font that doesn't have a proper capital "i" (meaning one WITH CROSSBARS) should be rejected, especially for any kind of technical use. If you can't tell the difference between a lower-case L and a 1, the font is useless. And really the same goes for a capital O or zero.

cratermoon 4y ago
The requirements for programming fonts are a high bar. A few things to ponder: O0D L1l| S8 `' https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5614409/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5614409/
ruuda 4y ago
Inter has this as an alternate.
nagyf 4y ago
Plex's capital "O" and it's 0 (zero) is pretty much indistinguishable.
- mechanicum 4y ago
  They don’t have to be. The entire Plex family has plain, slashed and dotted zero glyph variants.
- BuckyBeaver 4y ago
  That's unfortunate. One thing I don't like about Plex aesthetically is that the italic faces have right-facing serifs on the bottom of most letters for some reason. It's needlessly inconsistent. Here's a list of sans-serif fonts I've found that have proper capital "i": Chivo (O and zero different width): https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Chivo https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Chivo Clear Sans (O and zero indistinguishable): https://www.fontsquirrel.com/fonts/clear-sans https://www.fontsquirrel.com/fonts/clear-sans Comme (O and zero different width): https://www.fontsquirrel.com/fonts/comme https://www.fontsquirrel.com/fonts/comme Darker-grotesque (O and zero different width): https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Darker+Grotesque https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Darker+Grotesque Dejavu-sans-mono (zero clearly different): https://www.fontsquirrel.com/fonts/dejavu-sans-mono https://www.fontsquirrel.com/fonts/dejavu-sans-mono Didact-gothic (O and zero different width): https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Didact+Gothic https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Didact+Gothic Droid-sans (O and zero different width): https://fonts.adobe.com/fonts/droid-sans https://fonts.adobe.com/fonts/droid-sans Droid-sans-mono (O and zero different width): https://fonts.adobe.com/fonts/droid-sans-mono https://fonts.adobe.com/fonts/droid-sans-mono Luciole (O and zero slightly different width): https://www.luciole-vision.com/luciole-en.html https://www.luciole-vision.com/luciole-en.html Metrophobic (O and zero different width): https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Metrophobic https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Metrophobic Monda (O and zero different width): https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Monda https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Monda Nobile (O and zero different height): https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Monda https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Monda Noto-mono (zero clearly different): https://fonts.google.com/noto/specimen/Noto+Sans+Mono https://fonts.google.com/noto/specimen/Noto+Sans+Mono Noto-sans (O and zero different width): https://fonts.google.com/noto/specimen/Noto+Sans https://fonts.google.com/noto/specimen/Noto+Sans Sen (O and zero different width): https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Sen https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Sen Tiresias-infofont (O and zero indistinguishable): https://www.fontsquirrel.com/fonts/tiresias-infofont https://www.fontsquirrel.com/fonts/tiresias-infofont Victor-mono (zero clearly different): https://rubjo.github.io/victor-mono/ https://rubjo.github.io/victor-mono/

CharlesW 4y ago

> If you're looking for something more flavorful than Roboto, use this or Inter. Speaking of which, Inter 4.0 is in beta and looking really good. Now's a great time for type aficionados to try it out and offer feedback! https://github.com/rsms/inter/releases https://github.com/rsms/inter/releases

satvikpendem 4y ago
Are there any differences between 3 and 4? I didn't see any screenshots anywhere.
- CharlesW 4y ago
  Highlights from 4.0b7 release notes: • Six new "Display" designs which used to be a separate font, Inter Display. Now integrated into the variable font as an optical-size axis (opsz) • Coordinate system changed to 2048. This addresses some issues with older (10+ years) postscript printer drivers and some software • slnt (italic) variable-font axis has been removed and there are now two variable fonts, one roman and one italic, both with wght and opsz axes. This addresses issues with web browsers unable to reliably apply italic styles. Also makes it possible for the Italic designs to diverge from the upright "roman" design, which is not possible when italic is an axis of one variable font. • Lots of improvements to glyph design of all styles, kerning and metadata
  - satvikpendem 4y ago
    Thanks!

neilpanchal 4y ago

> Please don't design your own eye-melting garbage, for my sake. I think there is still so much room to experiment with Grotesk typefaces. Perhaps the frustration is caused by everygoing going Druk in Magazine design and custom Corporate typography that's just incredibly...corporate. Every other grotesk fork of Akzidenz tends to follow Helvetica's path and the New York aesthetic. Public apathy is understandable. The other fork of Akzidenz is Univers and its derivates; they are wonderful, especially for technical communication. I can't pinpoint why, perhaps it is nostalgia, but perhaps it is its formality and the way it is kerned by Adrian. Genius. I wrote about it on HN a few years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19621544 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19621544 There are only a couple of decent typefaces that are alternatives to Univers. Unica77 and Swiss 721, both again trying to bring Helvetica into the Univers business. So, I've taken up the task of propelling Univers forward. I hope it won't melt your eyes.

flobosg 4y ago
Looking forward to the end result!

satvikpendem 4y ago

Plex Sans is too angular for me, the "f", "g" and "t" for example. I like Grotesk style sans serif fonts personally, there still isn't an amazing one out there.

smcl 4y ago

I hate to admit it since IBM are like the OG "big bad company" but their Open Source programming fonts are the ones I like the best out of those that came out recently (Source Code Pro, Cascadia, JetBrains Mono, Mononoki, Go Mono, etc - see https://www.programmingfonts.org https://www.programmingfonts.org)

lcnmrn 4y ago

Not as nice as Route 159: https://dotcolon.net/font/route159/ https://dotcolon.net/font/route159/

BuckyBeaver 4y ago
No crossbars on the capital "i", so no dice.

loudandskittish 4y ago

...I can't deal with that f