This font is not new. This re-release has been out over a year and its predecessor (Anonymous) has been around almost ten. I've seen it in plenty of "best programming fonts" articles.
That said, it is nice to have something different from the usual simple sans model of most modern monospaces (e.g., Deja Vu Sans Mono, Consolas, and Inconsolata). Anonymous has a lot of character – which either interests or annoys you.
I personally find the sans-serif monospace fonts much easier to read on a monitor, especially at small sizes. Out of the list, I find Consolas far superior to the others. Inconsolata is very similar, but it doesn't have real italics, and the vectors aren't tweaked for optimal anti-aliasing.
Typography is something Microsoft actually does very well.
I find OS X makes nice fonts like Envy look bloated, bold and ugly when I switch from Apple-prescribed black-on-white - where they look awesome - to my preferred white-on-black scheme. I have to stick to bitmap fonts like Terminus, SGIScreen and Dina when coding on Mac. Linux and Windows do not have this problem.
One thing I like about Inconsolata Pro is that it supports Cyrillic fonts (the other two also support), there are many good monospaced fonts which don't have Cyrillic support, and there are lot of programmers who like to make the comments in the code in their native language.
I prefer Menlo/Deju Vu Sans Mono. It's amazing how all these monospace fonts differ in rendering between, say, 10pt and 18pt. I often find that the best looking one at a larger size just doesn't have the right 13pt/14pt sweet spot where it's both elegant and functional. The rendering also differs between systems, and even between frameworks, so there's not even one right answer.
It's my (self-appointed) job on HN to also remind people that if they love Inconsolata, but hate the curly quotations, you can get straight-quote Inconsolata-dz.
I didn't even notice the curly quotes until you pointed it out. I guess today I'll either decide I don't care or get maddeningly frustrated and download Inconsolata-dz :)
I had to stop using Inconsolata because when it is a pixel or two wider when bolded (by Eclipse or other editors). Perhaps I installed it wrong on my Ubuntu machine, but I couldn't figure out how to fix it.
It seems to make the gap between lines enormous in Emacs. Is it just a configuration issue? (compared to Deja Vu Sans Mono) I can't accept a font change that means I can fit less code on my screen and have to read smaller text to boot.
I wonder what the world would be like if somebody designed a nice variable-width font for typesetting code. It would be different than a font designed for setting English, but I wonder if we wouldn't get the same benefits of beauty and legibility.
I mean, it's kinda silly that we continue to program in fixed-width type, given what modern software can do with setting type on the fly...
It's more than that--I tend to lean towards words with the same number of characters for variable names which helps make things line up. Variable width would kill that too.
Well, clearly the fixed width font came first in computer programming. So yeah, I'm sure I pick the words because I use a fixed width font.
Using a variable width font would pose many problems to the editor and you'd have to have tabs on the "inside" of a line (as opposed to just having them on the front). That isn't necessarily bad, just much different from how I currently currently code.
And aligning to a tab stop is not always what I want--you'd need a tab character that didn't mean "go to the next tab stop" but instead meant "line me up with the corresponding tab in the previous and next lines at the minimum possible distance". That seems annoying and probably not worth it.
I code in Calibri (variable-width, comes with Vista). I changed a few years ago and never looked back.
With proper anti-aliasing and syntax highlighting, it's the perfect font for coding!
You can always align variable width fonts with TAB.
Because a tab is frequently equivalent to a number of spaces in a fixed width font, we get religious wars about tabs vs spaces. In a variable width font, I presume you would use only tabs.
It mat also be the case that c and c-family languages (or python and python-like languages) are not the best choice for such a typesetting system.
I tried for a while to use variable width, but I do a lot of data driven work in Lua and find I make 2 dimensional grids quite frequently, and unfortunately, there's no good way to line them up with a variable width font in a text editor if the field sizes change row to row.
I suppose one answer would be to have a smarter editor that could imbed tables, ala a word processor, but that's certainly not a workflow I'm used to.
I don't know, but I love Consolas so much that I'd be hard pressed to try anything else. I can set a small font size, lean back in my chair and still read it clearly without squinting.
I think Anonymous Pro looks a lot like Consolas, only a little less bold. Also, a little more "packed" - I assume this is due to decreased font height, which for me works great sometimes but it can be cumbersome to my eyes.
I use Anonymous and I'm trying out Anonymous Pro now but Consolas is a fantastic font as well. Especially on windows, as it has great cleartype hinting. It also has a two-storey "a" and the slashed 0 going the correct way.
I've been using regular Anonymous for a while now. Now when I see it, I think "That looks like my code." The "0" character being slashed the normal way and staying inside the circle is a welcome change. If he was concerned with it looking too much like a Ø character, he could have used a dotted zero I suppose although these kinds of details are capable of spurring wars.
Anyway, it looks nice in everything I switched over... except Komodo Edit which renders the line heights wrong at pts lower than 14. I'm willing to blame that on the editor though.
It took me years of programming (and even more years of being a computer user) to realize that it's worth choosing a programming font. It honestly hadn't occurred to me.
I've been using Monaco for a while, mostly because it's the "happiest" looking font I've found. Going to be giving this font a test drive now.
Another nice choice, on the sans-serif side, is an APL font from dyalog (even if you're not an APL programmer). It has a certain old-school charm that pleases me.
I've been a die hard programmer font snob for years and have been using Bitstream Vera Sans Mono or Deja Vu Sans Mono. Mostly because it's free and can be used on all platforms.
Then, Apple released Snow Leopard with Menlo. It had just enough small little changes that at a slightly smaller point size it was easier to read. I fell in love. I've actually now trained my self to really enjoy using 10 point unaliased Monaco on small screens and enjoy it immensely as well.
It's amazing how close Menlo and Deja Vu Sans Mono are. I like the lighter punctuation in Deja Vu but the = character is clearer in Menlo. I like the zero with a slash in Menlo, too.
Hrm, the images on the site look fuzzy, could not stand to look at that for long. The font is also a bit too…expressive? The round shapes are very prominent. There seems to be some disproportion to some letters which makes text look uneven to my eyes.
Am I the only person to set a 20px+ programming font? I have pretty good sight, but with a widescreen-ish macbook, you can easily get 120 chars in a window at that size and it's much easier to scan code.
I have a 17" MBP and a 30" LCD and I happily use an 11px font (Monaco or Manlo). 20px would seem silly to me, no offense. I have room for 120 chars, 120 lines, and plenty of space for tech design docs, API guides, terminals, etc....
It's my default monospaced font as well. I've tried Inconsolata, Terminus, Anonymous (Pro), etc. and though I could happily use most of them I find monofur to be easy on my eyes, clear, and just a little Art Deco in feel if not in history. Using it was a whim that's stuck with me for several years and I'm happy I stumbled across it. It's spread to a few friends via the "what the heck is that", "eh, might as well try it", "this is really nice!" cycle.
What are some good, widely-available variable-width fonts that also help distinguish commonly-confused characters (O, 0, I, l, 1, etc.)?
The verdana here at HN is reasonable, but what if I wanted an even stronger distinction -- especially on the zeros -- without going fully monospace? I'm thinking of a reference-info use case where precision is important, but code-like alignment isn't.
Why does the font matter? This is a serious question. I use the default font on all of my editors and I've never had a problem. I can tell ohs from zeros and els from ones, etc. And I don't care about different types of serifs or other typographical nuances. Do most of the advantages come when using alphabets besides English?
A good font can make you more efficient. A font which is just as readable as another, but at a smaller size, gets more code on the screen. A font where you can more quickly distinguish 0 from O saves you some tiny sliver of time, yes, but more importantly, if the difference is great enough it can prevent distraction/context-switching.
Hey Mark, if you're reading this: your font looks fantastic, sincerely on par with Inconsolata. BUT, the pointer arrow -> renders with the dash off center from the point of the >. It's too much of a distraction to switch.
I've tried (and continue to try) several programming fonts, but always stick with Terminus. In my opinion, it is the most readable font at 8px, and I like being able to fit as much as possible in a screenful without losing readability. Most of the other fonts I've tried seem more suited for sizes 10pt and larger, and that's fine, I would consider them for usage in my web browser, or some other place. But my console windows are all Terminus.
I use my own customised bitmap font under Linux. I couldn't get the font working under OS-X, but didn't try very hard as Linux is on all my main machines.
I have it here in case anyone is interested in it. It allows me to fit 4 terminals across on a 1920x1200 screen nicely with a bit of room to spare.
Unfortunately, its nice auto-hinted varieties do not kick in before 11 points, and doesn't really look nice until 12 pt. If I had an 11 or 12 point defaulted in my terminals, there is no way I'd be able to put more than one or two of them on one screen at most--and even then, with overlap--which sort of defeats the point.
To use this font, I need it to work non-crudely at 9 or 10 pt too.
Right now I am using Mensch font ( http://robey.lag.net/2010/06/21/mensch-font.html ). It is very readable and solid. I tried right now this post's font Anonymous Pro, also Envy Code R and Inconsolata but returned back to Mensch. They were not bad but I didn't liked them enough to switch.
What pt size do people use for their Anti-Aliased programming fonts? I currently use a 10pt bitmapped font and everytime I try a font that is 'smoothed' it ends up looking like out of focus dreck at that size.
I'm curious whether I'm odd for using such a small typeface, noticing the effect of AA on such a small typeface, or caring about it. I can't decide which.
Point sizes vary due to DPI. I used 11pt on Windows, and ProFont (bitmap, 10 or 9, I don't recall) on Mac.
I think it's only Windows where you can get relatively decent clarity for aliased fonts at a smallish point size, depending on how good it's hinted, due to how ClearType renders it.
Mac is a bit heavy, and Linux is just bad, the shapes on Linux look nothing like any other OS.
Aside: Yes, I know about the byte code interpreter option and patches to FreeType, but even with that it's still bad. Most programmers I work with unfortunately are just type blind (can't tell difference between Tahoma, Arial, and Segoe, and italic/non-italic of each, for example, leading to "interesting" font choices in UIs).
I've been using this for a few months now; it's by far my favorite programming font. Every little detail is so finely crafted and well-proportioned. For example, with Monaco it always bothered me that / and \ were slightly taller, or that < and > looked funny - in Anonymous Pro everything's just right.
This looks strange: In the 'all characters' tab, the Greek omega appears only with a stress, not in its regular form. Is this usual with fonts or a peculiarity of this one? I actually got excited to have a nice Greek-enabled font, but this threw me off.
Looks like there are some coders out there that actually know why having good typography is valid and don't just take whatever is out there as is usually the case.
Most modern programming fonts have good typography. In fact, most older programming fonts have good typography too (except for terminal, on Windows). Since the guys who make amazing typographic marvels are the same that bring us our fixed-width fonts, I'm not surprised.
Droid Sans Mono looks nice to me, but if you can't tell a zero apart from a capital o then you're asking for 30 minutes of trying to figure a really stupid bug at some point in your life.
Nice slashed zero, The letter 'l' nicely distinguishes from one, greek character support and bitmap support for those who hate anti-aliasing. Simply wonderful.
Sounds very Windows-y from the blurb (and good blurb it is too). If I had a Windows box I'd defo try it out. Especially for the range of glyphs it has, lots n lots. However seems Mac head and Linux dweebs need not apply unless they want to struggle a bit.
If you call that bold, ok.
I call it: easy to read and less strain on my eyes.
Especially because there is no need for ClearType (et al), which I can't stand, as it always looks blurry to me.
That said, it is nice to have something different from the usual simple sans model of most modern monospaces (e.g., Deja Vu Sans Mono, Consolas, and Inconsolata). Anonymous has a lot of character – which either interests or annoys you.
It's been my default in Vim for some months now.