5 ms·

I'm not a huge fan of Windows, but I must say that the new Microsoft-designed fonts (Cambria, Calibri, Corbel, Consolas) strike a great balance between neutrali

I'm not a huge fan of Windows, but I must say that the new Microsoft-designed fonts (Cambria, Calibri, Corbel, Consolas) strike a great balance between neutrality and character for an OS.

kps 13y ago
I like Constantia, by John Hudson. It has become my go-to font for screen reading, since it manages an almost-oldstyle feel without falling apart at current resolutions. MS did commission some good work for the C-series.
drivebyacct2 13y ago
Constantia and Consolas are works of art, but Calibri has become about as grating to me as Comic Sans, as hyperbolic as that sounds.
tux1968 13y ago
Have to say that Consolas is the best monospaced font (that supports a large swath of Unicode) for my terminal emulator. I've always taken a rather dim view of non-functional niceties but have been swayed by just how damn nice the terminal looks while programming in Vim using Consolas. Well worth the purchase so that I could use it on Linux.
- robin_reala 13y ago
  If you want a free clone then Inconsolata is pretty good (and open source, hence improvable): http://www.levien.com/type/myfonts/inconsolata.html http://www.levien.com/type/myfonts/inconsolata.html
  - miloshadzic 13y ago
    To my eye, only the name looks similar.
contingencies 13y ago
My gnome-terminal seems to be using Source Code Pro from https://github.com/adobe/Source-Code-Pro https://github.com/adobe/Source-Code-Pro at Semibold weight and 12 points, though I basically just fullscreen it and frequently resize up and down depending on requirements. In reality I probably mostly I use it at 14 or 16 points, on a black background of course. compiz-fusion spins between desktop cube faces with ctrl+alt+arrow and a handy wacom tablet allow easy text selection, window placement and inkscape-driven thought-capture. I'm very interested in striking a balance between a minimalist console and graphical thinking, and have become a big fan of tools like mscgen, graphviz, and inkscape. Every time I use inkscape, default font selections irritate me to the point where I now generally the more tedious option of manually scribbling on the wacom tablet.
capnjngl 13y ago
There's also Candara and Constantina. I think they did a bang up job with them, especially Cambria (If I never saw Times again I'd be happy).
alipang 13y ago
Agreed. Unfortunately I can't say the same about Frutiger ripoff Segoe UI. I got tired so quickly of that font, and I barely even use Windows 8. You still see it all the time on other Microsoft branded stuff though, and all I can think is 'meh'. A neutral font like Helvetica is a much better choice IMO.
- miloshadzic 13y ago
  Ironically they are both in the same neutral family. https://www.dropbox.com/s/peqvvtw50ko6kbv/Screenshot%202013-09-25%2015.45.04.png https://www.dropbox.com/s/peqvvtw50ko6kbv/Screenshot%202013-... That's probably also the reason why you think that it is meh.
  - kenbellows 13y ago
    I think his 'meh' was directed toward Segoe UI, not Frutiger.
    - miloshadzic 13y ago
      Segoe UI is extremely similar to Frutiger Next, which is an expanded and slightly reworked Frutiger. That's what the whole fuss was about -- Microsoft not paying for a Frutiger Next license.
- LeonidasXIV 13y ago
  Yes, I was shocked how bad it looks, considering Microsoft has some really good font designers.

I'm not a huge fan of Windows, but I must say that the new Microsoft-designed fonts (Cambria, Calibri, Corbel, Consolas) strike a great balance between neutrality and character for an OS.

kps 13y ago

I like Constantia, by John Hudson. It has become my go-to font for screen reading, since it manages an almost-oldstyle feel without falling apart at current resolutions. MS did commission some good work for the C-series.

drivebyacct2 13y ago

Constantia and Consolas are works of art, but Calibri has become about as grating to me as Comic Sans, as hyperbolic as that sounds.

tux1968 13y ago

Have to say that Consolas is the best monospaced font (that supports a large swath of Unicode) for my terminal emulator. I've always taken a rather dim view of non-functional niceties but have been swayed by just how damn nice the terminal looks while programming in Vim using Consolas. Well worth the purchase so that I could use it on Linux.

robin_reala 13y ago
If you want a free clone then Inconsolata is pretty good (and open source, hence improvable): http://www.levien.com/type/myfonts/inconsolata.html http://www.levien.com/type/myfonts/inconsolata.html
- miloshadzic 13y ago
  To my eye, only the name looks similar.

contingencies 13y ago

My gnome-terminal seems to be using Source Code Pro from https://github.com/adobe/Source-Code-Pro https://github.com/adobe/Source-Code-Pro at Semibold weight and 12 points, though I basically just fullscreen it and frequently resize up and down depending on requirements. In reality I probably mostly I use it at 14 or 16 points, on a black background of course. compiz-fusion spins between desktop cube faces with ctrl+alt+arrow and a handy wacom tablet allow easy text selection, window placement and inkscape-driven thought-capture. I'm very interested in striking a balance between a minimalist console and graphical thinking, and have become a big fan of tools like mscgen, graphviz, and inkscape. Every time I use inkscape, default font selections irritate me to the point where I now generally the more tedious option of manually scribbling on the wacom tablet.

capnjngl 13y ago

There's also Candara and Constantina. I think they did a bang up job with them, especially Cambria (If I never saw Times again I'd be happy).

alipang 13y ago

Agreed. Unfortunately I can't say the same about Frutiger ripoff Segoe UI. I got tired so quickly of that font, and I barely even use Windows 8. You still see it all the time on other Microsoft branded stuff though, and all I can think is 'meh'. A neutral font like Helvetica is a much better choice IMO.

miloshadzic 13y ago
Ironically they are both in the same neutral family. https://www.dropbox.com/s/peqvvtw50ko6kbv/Screenshot%202013-09-25%2015.45.04.png https://www.dropbox.com/s/peqvvtw50ko6kbv/Screenshot%202013-... That's probably also the reason why you think that it is meh.
- kenbellows 13y ago
  I think his 'meh' was directed toward Segoe UI, not Frutiger.
  - miloshadzic 13y ago
    Segoe UI is extremely similar to Frutiger Next, which is an expanded and slightly reworked Frutiger. That's what the whole fuss was about -- Microsoft not paying for a Frutiger Next license.
LeonidasXIV 13y ago
Yes, I was shocked how bad it looks, considering Microsoft has some really good font designers.