What programmers font (monospaced!) do you like best?
Posted by jpluimers on 2013/05/08
Lucida Console Sample (thanks Wikimedia!)
I’m in search to see if there is a better programmers font than the monospaced Lucida Console mainly to be used in Visual Studio, Delphi, the Windows console, Xcode and Eclipse. What I love about Lucida Console design is the relatively large x-height combined with a small leading (often called “line height”). This combines very readable text, and a lot of code lines in view. Lucida has two small drawbacks, see the second image at the right:
- The captial O and digit 0 (zero) are very similar.
- Some uppercase/lowercase character pairs are alike (because of the large x-height)
But, since the font hasn’t been updated for a very long time, lots of Unicode code points that are now in current fonts, are missing from Lucida Console (unless you buy the [Wayback] most recent version that has 666 characters from Fonts.com) Well, there are dozens of monospaced fonts around, so I wonder: which ones do you like? In the mean while, I’m going to do some experimenting with fonts mentioned in these lists:
- [Wayback] Monospace/Fixed Width Programmer’s Fonts.
- [Wayback] Font Survey: 42 of the Best Monospaced Programming Fonts – CodeProject.
- [Wayback] 10 of the Best Programming Fonts – SitePoint.
- [Wayback] Top 10 Programming Fonts.
- [Wayback] Keith Devens .com – Programming Fonts.
- [Wayback] Fuentes para programación ([Archive.is] Google translated to English).
- [Wayback] Coding Horror: Revisiting Programming Fonts. (2007)
- [Wayback] Coding Horror: Consolas and ClearType. (2005)
- [Wayback] Coding Horror: Progamming Fonts. (2004)
- [Wayback] Anonymous Pro. / [Wayback] Anonymous Pro: a programming font with style.
- [Wayback] Inconsolata.
- [Wayback] Envy Code R preview #7 (scalable coding font) » DamienG.
- [Wayback] Adding straight single and double quotes to Inconsolata.
- [Wayback] Lucida Console Thin free font download.
- [Wayback] Fonts for web design: a primer – Dev.Opera.
A few fonts I’m considering (I only want scalable fonts, so raster .fon files are out):
- [Wayback] Anonymous Pro
- [Wayback] Crystal
- [Wayback/Archive.is] Envy Code R preview #7 (scalable coding font)
- [Wayback] Hyperfont
- [Wayback] Inconsolata-dz
- [Wayback] ProFontWindows
- [Wayback] DejaVu
I have tried Adobe Source Code Pro about half a year ago. That didn’t cut it: problem with italics in Delphi, and not enough lines per screen. [Wayback] New Open Source monospaced font from Adobe: Source Code Pro.
–jeroen
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Need to look at monospaced programmers fonts again « The Wiert Corner – irregular stream of stuff said
[…] What programmers font (monospaced!) do you like best? […]
jpluimers said
Cesar Marrero posted these comments on G+:
To add Inconsolata to the Console, you need to do a Registry Hack. NOTE: make sure you’re using the TTF version, not the OTF version:
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/windows-and-office/quick-tip-add-fonts-to-the-command-prompt
Also, you can download the TTF version through Google Font:
https://www.google.com/fonts/specimen/Inconsolata
CRConrad said
SASfont.
Not cheap, though: I doubt they sell it separately, so you’ll probably have to get the SAS system to get the font. Don’t know how much that will set you back, but I guess it’s in the mid-to-high tens of thousands. Per year.
jpluimers said
Do you mean this one?
http://www.ufonts.com/fonts/sas-monospace-bold.html
CRConrad said
Oh, look!
I had no idea. Yeah, that’s a little cheaper than this:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bzkks7qi8N6YSF82WW9rYXlHUDA/view?usp=sharing
jpluimers said
(:
Hopefully these links work for others too:
ufonts.com_sas-monospace-bold.woff
http://www.ufonts.com/downloads/76047_349393776
ufonts.com_sas_monospace_bold.eot
http://www.ufonts.com/downloads/76047~349393776
ufonts.com_sas-monospace-bold.ttf
http://www.ufonts.com/downloads/76047!349393776
Note: the TTF cannot be used in a Windows Console. Not sure why yet (need to figure out when I’m on a PC with more font tools)
jpluimers said
Some more comments on this G+ thread: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+JeroenPluimers/posts/gZJpHrTtNkb
It has votes for Dina and DejaVu Sans Mono
NAF said
I have tried almost all of these fonts and keep returning to my old favourite Lucida Sans Typewriter. It’s attractive and very readable.
jpluimers said
I love the Lucida font family. I even have the mid 1990s complete set: https://wiert.me/2012/06/25/fonts-in-microsoft-products-lucida-microsoft-typography-fonts-on-other-platforms/
Am I a font addict?
WarrenP said
http://slant.co/topics/67/~what-are-the-best-programming-fonts. Slant.co is like stackoverflow for lists O stuff….
Alexandre Machado said
Definetly Source Code Pro! I’ve tried many different fonts in the past, including Deja Vu, Lucida, Consolas, etc. I’ve always returned to Courier New after some time. Source Code Pro makes Courier New looks akward.
omonien said
I am using Anonymous Pro for a long time and I am happy with it.
jpluimers said
Personally, I don’t like the serifs very much. It is nice at 10 points, but ugly at 11 (both the Anonymous Pro and the Anonymous Pro Minus).
Most importantly: it doesn’t do italics.
omonien said
In Delphi I never had the need for italics :)
I am using it at 12pt on a 1920×1080 22″ scree, which feels comfortable to me.
Kyle Miller said
You can try Ubuntu Monospace (http://font.ubuntu.com/ … I find works best at 10 or 12pt.) or Bitstream Vera (http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/GNOME/sources/ttf-bitstream-vera/1.10/).
jpluimers said
Bitstream Vera: italics not good enough, not enough lines per screen but comes close.
Ubunto Monospace: looks really crisp, even in italic. I’ll give it more chance.
Martin said
Courier New, by far unbeaten.
David Robb said
I use the Dina font at 6pt on a machine configured for large fonts (don’t ask), 1920×1200.
http://www.donationcoder.com/Software/Jibz/Dina/
Also like Consolas a lot, but Dina can be configured to use less space with equivalent readability.
jpluimers said
I’m using at least 1920×1200 (:
Dina is bitmap font and those are out (they don’t scale well enough).
jpluimers said
Actually: I’ll take that back. First try of Dina at 7pt is reasonable.
D. Dunn said
Envy Code R is my go to font.
Marcin said
+1 for Consolas…
rpoulin said
Have a look Inconsolata (i use inconsolata-dz) at http://levien.com/type/myfonts/inconsolata.html
inconsolata-dz: http://nodnod.net/2009/feb/12/adding-straight-single-and-double-quotes-inconsola/
Mr. Mike said
I have been using Raize font and find it the clearest to use. Available for free at http://www.raize.com/DevTools/Tools/RzFont.asp.
Fabricio Araujo said
In Delphi and VS2008, I use Raize. In VS2010+, Monaco.
jpluimers said
Raize is a bitmap font. They are out (:
Fabricio said
Most of the better programming fonts are bitmap.
I only use Monaco on VS2010+ because of VS not allowing bitmap fonts, otherwise I would use Raize. On SQLDbx, Delphi, Lazarus, and all VS below 2010 I use Raize.
Never tried changed the font of Windows Command Prompt. And can’t talk about Eclipse and XCode.
Fabricio said
Just to add: my notebook uses 1280×800. The works’ machine also doesn’t use 1900×1200.
Anthony Frazier said
Another vote for Adobe Source Code Pro. Before that I was using Consolas. Anonymous Pro isn’t bad if you like serifed fonts, but I prefer sans-serif. Envy Code is pretty nice too, but only at larger font sizes. If you code at 9 pt, you’re probably not going to like it. Source Code Pro ends up being wider than Consolas, but I prefer the letter shapes.
Eric said
Courier New, still the most practical for me at size 11. Been trying the other fonts, while individually they look clean, I just never could achieve “quick reading” ability with them (ie. be able to recognize and understand code without actually reading the characters), probably got some neurons hard-wired to recognize Courier New ;-)
jpluimers said
I do like Courier and Courier New for printed material (like you, I’ve been around for a while), but for screen reading it’s not what works best for me.
Though serif fonts do work better on high DPI screens than regular ones, I still don’t like it enough for screen reading (:
wmeyer said
I prefer Consolas, hands down. Although with Lucida Console, I could get 65 lines of text in the RAD Studio editor, the 55 lines I get with Consolas are far more readable. The characters in Lucida Console seem to me far too boxy, too square. The width of a line on the screen increases almost 25%, and the intercharacter spacing is excessive. Other than that, Lucida Console is ok. ;)
gabr42 said
I’m a great fan of Consolas.
Marco Cantu said
I often use PragmataPro, very nice even if a tad expensive. Done by a friend of mine.
Tom said
Another vote for PragmataPro!
jpluimers said
The screenshots at http://www.fsd.it/fonts/pragmatapro.htm certainly look impressive.
esbglenn said
I also use PragmataPro in all my Delphi IDEs and my Visual Studio IDEs – as well as in several other tools – I bought it shortly after it came out for a good price and have been very happy with it :)
zorancz said
What about Adobe Source Code Pro?
http://blogs.adobe.com/typblography/2012/09/source-code-pro.html
Fred Ahrens said
I’m happy with Source Code Pro font http://sourceforge.net/projects/sourcecodepro.adobe/ (except there are some glitches when used in italic)
Before it was DejaVu Sans Mono but Source Code Pro shows better differences between I1l and O0.
Martin Wienold said
I’m using DejaVu Fonts
The only thing that I don’t like about it is a dotted zero instead of a slashed one.
http://dejavu-fonts.org/
jpluimers said
Will add DejaVu to the list. Thanks!
Nils said
I switched to Adobe’s Source Code Pro, when it became freeware. Now the default font of Delphi looks odd. :-)
jpluimers said
I tried Adobe Source Code Pro. It has problems with italics, and a lot less lines per inch.
See: https://wiert.me/2012/09/30/new-open-source-font-from-adobe-source-code-pro/
–jeroen