I would be inclined to leave you to your opinion, except for the fact that this website has a dark mode which is grey on black. Also I wouldn't mind as much if it were simply a lighter shade of grey.
I would be inclined to leave you to your opinion, except for the fact that this website has a dark mode which is grey on black.
Also I wouldn't mind as much if it were simply a lighter shade of grey.
I gave this font a shot. It's... fine. It's legible and not distracting, which I suppose makes it successful at its stated goals. But also, as someone who used to obsess over the perfect font and...
I gave this font a shot. It's... fine. It's legible and not distracting, which I suppose makes it successful at its stated goals.
But also, as someone who used to obsess over the perfect font and the perfect color scheme, I've come to the conclusion that a lot of that is just a rabbit hole detour from doing actual work. Beyond very fundamental issues (distinct 1iIl! etc., readability at 14pt, sufficient contrast), most visual distinctions that seem prominent when flipping back and forth between options all but disappear when I focus on what my code actually means instead of how it looks.
There are a lot of good default fonts that might not feel "glamorous" enough to daily drive. Liberation Mono, DejaVu Sans Mono — my system fonts that look just as good to me as my personal font of choice, Hack. On Windows, Consolas is perfectly fine (and Cascadia Code is okay, I guess). I haven't used MacOS, but Menlo and SF Mono look decent, too.
Unless an option provides a whole new visual paradigm (like one of my favorite monochrome themes, Verdandi — sample), it probably matters a lot less than you might think.
I've switched to JetBrains Mono from Hack and I think I'm stuck with it forever. Both are top-notch, but on the off chance you haven't heard of it, I implore you to try.
I've switched to JetBrains Mono from Hack and I think I'm stuck with it forever. Both are top-notch, but on the off chance you haven't heard of it, I implore you to try.
I didn't want to admit this for fear of feeling judged, but of all the comparisons the website does I actually liked JetBrains Mono the most. Though part of it might be the time I spent using one...
I didn't want to admit this for fear of feeling judged, but of all the comparisons the website does I actually liked JetBrains Mono the most. Though part of it might be the time I spent using one of their IDEs.
I did like how Commit Mono had a notably different italic font, though; it's a bit hard to tell with JetBrains Mono.
I switched from JetBrains Mono to Hack. :) And I used to think it was the perfect font for me, too. So many of the perceived benefits of one font over another are just placebo, honestly.
I switched from JetBrains Mono to Hack. :) And I used to think it was the perfect font for me, too. So many of the perceived benefits of one font over another are just placebo, honestly.
I'm so annoyingly anal with glyphs I don't think it's placebo, just strong preferences. Hack looks a bit more round, but I just like my numbers more angular. Look at "3" for example! Plus "i" and...
I'm so annoyingly anal with glyphs I don't think it's placebo, just strong preferences. Hack looks a bit more round, but I just like my numbers more angular. Look at "3" for example!
Plus "i" and "l" look rather similar in Hack, which I consider a technical flaw. I practically worship hyperlegibility. But that's some extreme nitpicking on my part as they are certainly FAR from e.g. Arial's "Il" nonsense.
Hack is an excellent font as well. I just find it fun to test out other kinds of fonts, but I feel like CommitMono is probably easier for me to read than Hack. But both are brilliant and I can do...
Hack is an excellent font as well.
I just find it fun to test out other kinds of fonts, but I feel like CommitMono is probably easier for me to read than Hack. But both are brilliant and I can do fine with either.
In fact, using the Consolig project I added ligatures to Consolas and I find it difficult to even evaluate most other fonts. Consolas is just... perfection. Unlike Cascadia Code it cleartypes well...
In fact, using the Consolig project I added ligatures to Consolas and I find it difficult to even evaluate most other fonts.
Consolas is just... perfection. Unlike Cascadia Code it cleartypes well at 1080p and below (CC is clearly already built primarily for 1440p and 4K and greyscale hinting), it has crisp individual letters, it can be used extremely densely and if you don't like that you just increase line spacing (so it's more user controlled compared to very tall fonts), and of course, it's included out of the box on Windows machines.
Ha, not the most UX-friendly site to be sure, but it was fun to poke around it. The "smart kerning" feature looks legitimately useful and I'm digging the lack of distracting ligatures. I'm gonna...
Ha, not the most UX-friendly site to be sure, but it was fun to poke around it. The "smart kerning" feature looks legitimately useful and I'm digging the lack of distracting ligatures. I'm gonna give it a spin and see how it compares to my all-time favorite monospace font Source Code Pro.
The Smart Kerning is indeed pretty cool, I have not that before. I also like the Smart case (1:1) which moves the + sign up to the middle of the numbers.
The Smart Kerning is indeed pretty cool, I have not that before.
I also like the Smart case (1:1) which moves the + sign up to the middle of the numbers.
I just installed Iosevka, guess I’ll have to see how this compares. Anyone know if the italics will get cut off from extending into other characters boxes? I ran into that problem with Iosevka....
I just installed Iosevka, guess I’ll have to see how this compares.
Anyone know if the italics will get cut off from extending into other characters boxes? I ran into that problem with Iosevka.
I’m also worried that I like the adaptable kerning but it probably won’t work in Windows terminal.
The zoom functionality of this website seems broken, or at least the keyboard shortcuts. For me, pressing - zooms in and pressing + does nothing. Tested on Firefox and Chrome.
The zoom functionality of this website seems broken, or at least the keyboard shortcuts. For me, pressing - zooms in and pressing + does nothing. Tested on Firefox and Chrome.
I never thought to try it out, but I'm getting the same in Firefox Dev edition. I'm also slightly annoyed that it doesn't work at all with the plus and minus keys on the 10key.
I never thought to try it out, but I'm getting the same in Firefox Dev edition.
I'm also slightly annoyed that it doesn't work at all with the plus and minus keys on the 10key.
I think most OSes drop back to a default font if you use a glyph not present on your preferred font. Browsers have been doing this for a while now. Will definitely agree you're a monster, though. :P
I think most OSes drop back to a default font if you use a glyph not present on your preferred font. Browsers have been doing this for a while now.
Will definitely agree you're a monster, though. :P
And yet they made their website black on grey.
The font does look pretty good, though.
I would be inclined to leave you to your opinion, except for the fact that this website has a dark mode which is grey on black.
Also I wouldn't mind as much if it were simply a lighter shade of grey.
What's your comment on this article?
Regardless, websites should respect the hierarchical setting using prefers-color-scheme.
There's a difference between "not full white" and "Oh I think my monitor accidentally dimmed down" (commitmono's site, basically), though.
It gives me serious Nier: Automata game UI vibes lol.
I gave this font a shot. It's... fine. It's legible and not distracting, which I suppose makes it successful at its stated goals.
But also, as someone who used to obsess over the perfect font and the perfect color scheme, I've come to the conclusion that a lot of that is just a rabbit hole detour from doing actual work. Beyond very fundamental issues (distinct
1iIl!etc., readability at 14pt, sufficient contrast), most visual distinctions that seem prominent when flipping back and forth between options all but disappear when I focus on what my code actually means instead of how it looks.There are a lot of good default fonts that might not feel "glamorous" enough to daily drive. Liberation Mono, DejaVu Sans Mono — my system fonts that look just as good to me as my personal font of choice, Hack. On Windows, Consolas is perfectly fine (and Cascadia Code is okay, I guess). I haven't used MacOS, but Menlo and SF Mono look decent, too.
Unless an option provides a whole new visual paradigm (like one of my favorite monochrome themes, Verdandi — sample), it probably matters a lot less than you might think.
I've switched to JetBrains Mono from Hack and I think I'm stuck with it forever. Both are top-notch, but on the off chance you haven't heard of it, I implore you to try.
I didn't want to admit this for fear of feeling judged, but of all the comparisons the website does I actually liked JetBrains Mono the most. Though part of it might be the time I spent using one of their IDEs.
I did like how Commit Mono had a notably different italic font, though; it's a bit hard to tell with JetBrains Mono.
Haha, I always disliked them except for the font. Just goes to show how everyone's different :)
Iosevka is slightly superior to me, but I'm generally not a big fan of "tall" coding fonts.
I switched from JetBrains Mono to Hack. :) And I used to think it was the perfect font for me, too. So many of the perceived benefits of one font over another are just placebo, honestly.
I'm so annoyingly anal with glyphs I don't think it's placebo, just strong preferences. Hack looks a bit more round, but I just like my numbers more angular. Look at "3" for example!
Plus "i" and "l" look rather similar in Hack, which I consider a technical flaw. I practically worship hyperlegibility. But that's some extreme nitpicking on my part as they are certainly FAR from e.g. Arial's "Il" nonsense.
Hack is an excellent font as well.
I just find it fun to test out other kinds of fonts, but I feel like CommitMono is probably easier for me to read than Hack. But both are brilliant and I can do fine with either.
If you like Source Code Pro, you might like Iosevka. It's what I use now.
In fact, using the Consolig project I added ligatures to Consolas and I find it difficult to even evaluate most other fonts.
Consolas is just... perfection. Unlike Cascadia Code it cleartypes well at 1080p and below (CC is clearly already built primarily for 1440p and 4K and greyscale hinting), it has crisp individual letters, it can be used extremely densely and if you don't like that you just increase line spacing (so it's more user controlled compared to very tall fonts), and of course, it's included out of the box on Windows machines.
Ha, not the most UX-friendly site to be sure, but it was fun to poke around it. The "smart kerning" feature looks legitimately useful and I'm digging the lack of distracting ligatures. I'm gonna give it a spin and see how it compares to my all-time favorite monospace font Source Code Pro.
The
Smart Kerningis indeed pretty cool, I have not that before.I also like the
Smart case (1:1)which moves the+sign up to the middle of the numbers.I'm actually curious as to how that works because I didn't know it was possible for a font to do that. Is it a creative use of glyph hinting?
I'm not sold on the font itself, but I love the website for testing it out.
I just installed Iosevka, guess I’ll have to see how this compares.
Anyone know if the italics will get cut off from extending into other characters boxes? I ran into that problem with Iosevka.
I’m also worried that I like the adaptable kerning but it probably won’t work in Windows terminal.
The zoom functionality of this website seems broken, or at least the keyboard shortcuts. For me, pressing
-zooms in and pressing+does nothing. Tested on Firefox and Chrome.I never thought to try it out, but I'm getting the same in Firefox Dev edition.
I'm also slightly annoyed that it doesn't work at all with the plus and minus keys on the 10key.
This is totally sick and a totally sick website.
I don't remember the last website I've seen with this much effort and quality put into it.
I think most OSes drop back to a default font if you use a glyph not present on your preferred font. Browsers have been doing this for a while now.
Will definitely agree you're a monster, though. :P
Pretty cool font for programming and such, I set it as my system default font everywhere. I like how legible it is.
Not a bad font, but, unfortunately, the site requires QWERTY.
It is pretty, but I’d still rather go with Consolas if I can’t get any other fonts. It’s SF Mono or bust for me.
As someone who uses Fira Code I found it pretty funny that this font is proud of not having ligatures.