As someone who dabbles in UI customizations, they don't make the experience better for me, but they make the experience unique. I have a different set of fonts and themes on my work box than I do...
As someone who dabbles in UI customizations, they don't make the experience better for me, but they make the experience unique.
I have a different set of fonts and themes on my work box than I do on my home dev box. My home dev box is meant for dumb, fun projects. My work box is meant to actually do something productive. Those two goals are absolutely opposed to each other and I do not want to blur the line between them any more than I have to.
The fun ridiculous font helps me remember that my silly project is just that - silly. It is meant as a way to blow off steam and not stress me out. My professional, standard IDE at work is meant to get a job done.
Think of it like putting racing stripes on your car. It just makes it yours instead of industry standard.
It’s great that so much attention has been given to monospace font design over the years, at this point we have a wealth of truly great (readable, beautiful, unambiguous) options for every...
It’s great that so much attention has been given to monospace font design over the years, at this point we have a wealth of truly great (readable, beautiful, unambiguous) options for every personality and use case. But I think it may finally be time to call this a solved problem and stop reinventing the wheel. It’s to the point where only tiny nuances differentiate one from another, and I don’t think those are providing enough value to drive any more adoption. I’d love for someone to jump in here with “ACTUALLY there’s this one pain point that’s been driving me crazy for years and finally this new font fixes it!” …but I think we are long past that point.
Just install your favorite font, patch it with special glyphs if you need them, and move on. You’ve got code to write! No need to keep coming back to this old watering hole.
There's still some room for innovation, though. I like some of the new things this font family brings. Having several fonts with the same metrics is nice. I like their examples where different...
There's still some room for innovation, though.
I like some of the new things this font family brings. Having several fonts with the same metrics is nice. I like their examples where different parts of code might get different fonts, not just different colors. Their use of contextual alternates for "texture healing" seems really nice.
I still use a bitmapped font because I work at small text sizes on lower-DPI screens. But I think this one is going on the short list for a replacement whenever I finally switch to something high-DPI.
I don't know that the font itself makes a huge difference, but for me consistency makes a difference. I recently switch to using Hack everywhere: terminals, vs code, android studio, xcode, etc....
I don't know that the font itself makes a huge difference, but for me consistency makes a difference. I recently switch to using Hack everywhere: terminals, vs code, android studio, xcode, etc.
I've find that it makes it a bit easier for me to context switch when they all have the same font. The default XCode font is also god awful imo.
I love the ligatures feature and being able to choose alternate characters in Fira Code. Whilst I applaud this font for doing something new with the code healing, and even the alternate faces to...
I love the ligatures feature and being able to choose alternate characters in Fira Code.
Whilst I applaud this font for doing something new with the code healing, and even the alternate faces to some extent, I think these changes are incremental and insignificant enough to warrant me not bothering to try it out.
I'm not going to discuss ligatures, I personally like them, but instead focus on other aspects of the fonts. Imagine if everything (everything) was typeset in Times New Roman. It'd suck. Times...
I'm not going to discuss ligatures, I personally like them, but instead focus on other aspects of the fonts.
Imagine if everything (everything) was typeset in Times New Roman. It'd suck. Times isn't bad, but different typefaces have different stylistic choices. Wide vs. thin, ink traps vs. not, low x-height vs. high x-height, geometric vs. ... not geometric? I don't know the actual term for that. Those differences affect the reading experience, I'd say far more than the classical classifications of "Serif", "Sans", and "Mono". In fact I think our way of classifying typefaces needs to change, but I know I'm not the right person for that.
I'm currently using Jetbrains Mono because its uniform-ish shapes and lack of serifs make it really easy to scan text vertically. After using it for a while, I found my eye wasn't being caught on certain characters as I scanned through a file. It did actually make a difference to my day-to-day experience in the editor. Since I read a lot more than I write, finding a typeface that gives a cleaner reading experience helps, even if it's just a little bit.
It doesn't stop me from being able to read on someone else's screen, but it is something that I notice now.
I have been using Adobe Source Code Pro since they released it (maybe ten? years ago). I like it a lot. I do think it was a big improvement over what was available at the time. I always set it up...
I have been using Adobe Source Code Pro since they released it (maybe ten? years ago). I like it a lot. I do think it was a big improvement over what was available at the time. I always set it up in a new environment. But for me it is more about consistency than anything else -- avoiding unnecessary distractions by having a familiar environment to work in.
They do, but it's purely an individual thing. I, for one, cannot stand Fira Code (like Xenon), but a lot of people swear on it. JetBrains Mono (or Hack, or Consolas in a pinch) makes everything so...
They do, but it's purely an individual thing. I, for one, cannot stand Fira Code (like Xenon), but a lot of people swear on it. JetBrains Mono (or Hack, or Consolas in a pinch) makes everything so much more readable for me. I will try Neon and Argon.
Ligatures can also be pretty.
Face mixing I find horrid.
Texture healing feels great.
Etc.
Edit: tried Neon, Argon (actually closer to Fira than I realized at first. So many slabs) and Krypton. I'm not particularly impressed. Texture healing boils down to funky ligatures with mostly w and m. Unfortunately, while it makes a line look better, it can sometimes make a code block look... misaligned. JetBrains Mono, or Fira if you're into it, reign supreme.
I can’t comment on all of the bells and whistles of this particular font, but I’ve been using Dank Mono for several years and have enjoyed its semi-cursive style of italics because of how it makes...
I can’t comment on all of the bells and whistles of this particular font, but I’ve been using Dank Mono for several years and have enjoyed its semi-cursive style of italics because of how it makes comments and keywords (func for example) “pop”, increasing scannability in a way similar to how syntax coloration does.
I’ve used fonts with ligatures even longer and enjoy those for similar reasons: I find them a bit more readable than standard operators.
Wasn’t too interested until I got to this part: Because yeah, copilot can be a bit confusing sometimes since it’s in the same font. Sure it’s grayed out but that doesn’t always distinguish it...
Wasn’t too interested until I got to this part:
What if Copilot had its own voice?
Because yeah, copilot can be a bit confusing sometimes since it’s in the same font. Sure it’s grayed out but that doesn’t always distinguish it enough.
And then the Texture Healing bit seemed really cool.
Normally I skip the "check out this new monospaced font" posts, but this one truly seems to be doing something new with the whole "texture healing" bit. Very cool, bookmarked!
Normally I skip the "check out this new monospaced font" posts, but this one truly seems to be doing something new with the whole "texture healing" bit. Very cool, bookmarked!
I love the texture healing feature. It's really nice for perusing logs or other static content. Though when typing new content, the dependent-on-the-next-character nature of each letter's width...
I love the texture healing feature. It's really nice for perusing logs or other static content.
Though when typing new content, the dependent-on-the-next-character nature of each letter's width leads to characters wiggling about in a way that is quite distracting.
I personally can't stand ligatures in my code. When they first started showing up in monospaced fonts, it was novel enough that I tried them out, but I quickly got rid of them. I haven't tried...
I personally can't stand ligatures in my code. When they first started showing up in monospaced fonts, it was novel enough that I tried them out, but I quickly got rid of them. I haven't tried texture healing, but I imagine using it will have a similar, but more subtle effect. The slight differences between letters will likely catch my eye and distract me as my brain will see it as "looking off" like a typo, which is what happened with ligatures.
I’ve always seen all these font customizations. I wonder what people think? Do they really improve the coding experience?
As someone who dabbles in UI customizations, they don't make the experience better for me, but they make the experience unique.
I have a different set of fonts and themes on my work box than I do on my home dev box. My home dev box is meant for dumb, fun projects. My work box is meant to actually do something productive. Those two goals are absolutely opposed to each other and I do not want to blur the line between them any more than I have to.
The fun ridiculous font helps me remember that my silly project is just that - silly. It is meant as a way to blow off steam and not stress me out. My professional, standard IDE at work is meant to get a job done.
Think of it like putting racing stripes on your car. It just makes it yours instead of industry standard.
Perfect contextualization. Love it.
While ligatures are pretty, I can not stand them when coding.
I'm sure they improve the experience for someone... but I can't really if there's any research behind if they improve it for everyone.
It’s great that so much attention has been given to monospace font design over the years, at this point we have a wealth of truly great (readable, beautiful, unambiguous) options for every personality and use case. But I think it may finally be time to call this a solved problem and stop reinventing the wheel. It’s to the point where only tiny nuances differentiate one from another, and I don’t think those are providing enough value to drive any more adoption. I’d love for someone to jump in here with “ACTUALLY there’s this one pain point that’s been driving me crazy for years and finally this new font fixes it!” …but I think we are long past that point.
Just install your favorite font, patch it with special glyphs if you need them, and move on. You’ve got code to write! No need to keep coming back to this old watering hole.
There's still some room for innovation, though.
I like some of the new things this font family brings. Having several fonts with the same metrics is nice. I like their examples where different parts of code might get different fonts, not just different colors. Their use of contextual alternates for "texture healing" seems really nice.
I still use a bitmapped font because I work at small text sizes on lower-DPI screens. But I think this one is going on the short list for a replacement whenever I finally switch to something high-DPI.
I don't know that the font itself makes a huge difference, but for me consistency makes a difference. I recently switch to using Hack everywhere: terminals, vs code, android studio, xcode, etc.
I've find that it makes it a bit easier for me to context switch when they all have the same font. The default XCode font is also god awful imo.
I love the ligatures feature and being able to choose alternate characters in Fira Code.
Whilst I applaud this font for doing something new with the code healing, and even the alternate faces to some extent, I think these changes are incremental and insignificant enough to warrant me not bothering to try it out.
I'm not going to discuss ligatures, I personally like them, but instead focus on other aspects of the fonts.
Imagine if everything (everything) was typeset in Times New Roman. It'd suck. Times isn't bad, but different typefaces have different stylistic choices. Wide vs. thin, ink traps vs. not, low x-height vs. high x-height, geometric vs. ... not geometric? I don't know the actual term for that. Those differences affect the reading experience, I'd say far more than the classical classifications of "Serif", "Sans", and "Mono". In fact I think our way of classifying typefaces needs to change, but I know I'm not the right person for that.
I'm currently using Jetbrains Mono because its uniform-ish shapes and lack of serifs make it really easy to scan text vertically. After using it for a while, I found my eye wasn't being caught on certain characters as I scanned through a file. It did actually make a difference to my day-to-day experience in the editor. Since I read a lot more than I write, finding a typeface that gives a cleaner reading experience helps, even if it's just a little bit.
It doesn't stop me from being able to read on someone else's screen, but it is something that I notice now.
Gotta flex on people with your slick fonts in /g/ rice threads.
I have been using Adobe Source Code Pro since they released it (maybe ten? years ago). I like it a lot. I do think it was a big improvement over what was available at the time. I always set it up in a new environment. But for me it is more about consistency than anything else -- avoiding unnecessary distractions by having a familiar environment to work in.
They do, but it's purely an individual thing. I, for one, cannot stand Fira Code (like Xenon), but a lot of people swear on it. JetBrains Mono (or Hack, or Consolas in a pinch) makes everything so much more readable for me. I will try Neon and Argon.
Ligatures can also be pretty.
Face mixing I find horrid.
Texture healing feels great.
Etc.
Edit: tried Neon, Argon (actually closer to Fira than I realized at first. So many slabs) and Krypton. I'm not particularly impressed. Texture healing boils down to funky ligatures with mostly
wandm. Unfortunately, while it makes a line look better, it can sometimes make a code block look... misaligned. JetBrains Mono, or Fira if you're into it, reign supreme.I can’t comment on all of the bells and whistles of this particular font, but I’ve been using Dank Mono for several years and have enjoyed its semi-cursive style of italics because of how it makes comments and keywords (
funcfor example) “pop”, increasing scannability in a way similar to how syntax coloration does.I’ve used fonts with ligatures even longer and enjoy those for similar reasons: I find them a bit more readable than standard operators.
Wasn’t too interested until I got to this part:
Because yeah, copilot can be a bit confusing sometimes since it’s in the same font. Sure it’s grayed out but that doesn’t always distinguish it enough.
And then the Texture Healing bit seemed really cool.
Normally I skip the "check out this new monospaced font" posts, but this one truly seems to be doing something new with the whole "texture healing" bit. Very cool, bookmarked!
HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38210574
I love the texture healing feature. It's really nice for perusing logs or other static content.
Though when typing new content, the dependent-on-the-next-character nature of each letter's width leads to characters wiggling about in a way that is quite distracting.
I personally can't stand ligatures in my code. When they first started showing up in monospaced fonts, it was novel enough that I tried them out, but I quickly got rid of them. I haven't tried texture healing, but I imagine using it will have a similar, but more subtle effect. The slight differences between letters will likely catch my eye and distract me as my brain will see it as "looking off" like a typo, which is what happened with ligatures.