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The Interface font family

rsms.me

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Re: The Interface font family

#41

Post by bramen »

baldfat wrote: post #22
AceJohnny2 wrote: post #16

Looking at Interface's glyph map, I see that letter-O (O) is slightly wider than number-zero (0). Capital-eye (I) is indistinguishable from small-ell (l), though number-one (1) is distinguishable from both. What other glyph ambiguities do you look out for on new fonts?

I really hate that O and 0 are so alike and right next to each other on QWERTY. Wish a slash like in my coding fonts was the norm in USA.

I hate that you made me notice that and I'll never be able to unsee it! :-)

A slash or a dot in the middle would be nice.

Re: The Interface font family

#42

Post by hk__2 »

STRiDEX wrote: post #40
fastball wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should probably be loading the Roboto font via Google Fonts or similar, because my system does not have Roboto installed by default, so it is defaulting to serif in your comparison. At least I think that's the issue.

If you have homebrew you can do: brew cask install font-roboto

You got downvoted because the issue is not that fastball doesn’t have Roboto on their computer; it’s the website assumption that everyone has it.

Re: The Interface font family

#43

Post by wyager »

fredsted wrote: post #36
wyager wrote: post #8

I'm sure this is like tabs vs spaces for typographists, but why the hell do people make and use sans-serif fonts? Even ignoring aesthetics, the fact that there are horrendous ambiguities (like between I and l) renders these fonts completely inappropriate for computational tasks like copying passwords or secret keys. I have run into this problem multiple times on OS X and iOS, where the password managers use sans seri…

But aren't passwords just copied? Why does the font matter?

Common use case: reading wifi password to guests.

Re: The Interface font family

#44

Post by lanewinfield »

hk__2 wrote: post #42
STRiDEX wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have homebrew you can do: brew cask install font-roboto

You got downvoted because the issue is not that fastball doesn’t have Roboto on their computer; it’s the website assumption that everyone has it.

I'd say doubly, because no Cask with this name exists.

(Looks like you have to run

  brew tap caskroom/fonts
first :) )

Re: The Interface font family

#45

Post by mark-r »

wyager wrote: post #8

I'm sure this is like tabs vs spaces for typographists, but why the hell do people make and use sans-serif fonts? Even ignoring aesthetics, the fact that there are horrendous ambiguities (like between I and l) renders these fonts completely inappropriate for computational tasks like copying passwords or secret keys. I have run into this problem multiple times on OS X and iOS, where the password managers use sans seri…

Serif fonts are harder to render on low DPI displays, such as nearly every Windows machine in existence. I really wish that high DPI displays would take over the world, but I know how difficult that will be. I'm even having trouble myself, I'm in the market for a new Chromebook and I found one with a very nice 235dpi display. I can get it for $400, but my wife is giving me grief because similar ones with a crappy display are available for $250.

Re: The Interface font family

#46

Post by harrygeez »

wyager wrote: post #8

I'm sure this is like tabs vs spaces for typographists, but why the hell do people make and use sans-serif fonts? Even ignoring aesthetics, the fact that there are horrendous ambiguities (like between I and l) renders these fonts completely inappropriate for computational tasks like copying passwords or secret keys. I have run into this problem multiple times on OS X and iOS, where the password managers use sans seri…

Because sans-serif fonts are more legible on digital screens especially low-res screens?

Re: The Interface font family

#47

Post by kozak »

jack_jennings wrote: post #10

This is based on Roboto (reusing some outlines directly; not initially acknowledged by the designer on the marketing site), and arguably doesn't tread much new ground either in character or use-case or license. Not convinced there is anything this adds to an already crowded space.

Good to have a version of Roboto that is not distinctly associated with the Android OS. I remember having to dismiss Roboto in favor of Arimo just for that reason (despite Roboto being a better fit overall).

Re: The Interface font family

#48

Post by hk__2 »

lanewinfield wrote: post #44
hk__2 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You got downvoted because the issue is not that fastball doesn’t have Roboto on their computer; it’s the website assumption that everyone has it.

I'd say doubly, because no Cask with this name exists. (Looks like you have to run brew tap caskroom/fonts first :) )

That’s true; I didn’t try the above command :)

Re: The Interface font family

#50

Post by davidad_ »

jack_jennings wrote: post #39
rasmusfabbe wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hello Jack. I'm the creator of Interface. Indeed many glyphs's outlines comes from Roboto (though fitted into different glyph boxes.) The "playground" feature of the website even has a feature for comparing Interface with Roboto. When you do, and you look at the details, you'll find that Interface is actually quite different from Roboto, at least as far as "different" goes with utilitarian UI fonts. https://rsms.me/i…

Hi Rasmus, I think that at the point size at which this is meant to be used—e.g. around 11px ( https://rsms.me/interface/lab/?size=11&compare=roboto ) —the differences between the two become harder to distinguish. The issue is really that the character of the type is going to be dictated by the systematic decisions: stroke weight, x-height, proportion, spacing. Starting from Roboto and not changing these parameters i…

FWIW, I do find Interface to be subjectively noticeably more pleasant than Roboto in the comparison here.
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