I don't see the appeal of italics or ligatures, other than simple rice. I've been using DejaVu mono for the past 10 years, it's fine for me.
DejaVu Sans Mono with ligatures from Fira Code is the best I could find so far.
Victor Mono – A free programming font
61–70 of 126 posts
Re: Victor Mono – A free programming font
#62I appreciate the effort, the font looks solid, but I really don't understand the new trend of using italic in the code syntax. It seems like every trendy frontend engineer has their sublime text or vscode set up with a font that uses italic for imports, comments, etc and I really don't see the appeal.
well the italics of regular fonts are fine. it's the cursive thing that's excessive.
Re: Victor Mono – A free programming font
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
As pointed out several times on a recent discussion, including responses to this question, programmers spend a lot of time staring at text. It’s not unreasonable to want to find a good typeface. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21303707 “I don’t see the reason” is rarely a good rationale for blaming those who do for being wastrels.
I’m not blaming anybody for anything, and I understand that some people enjoy endlessly tinkering with their setups. What I don’t understand is why this particular topic has become so popular recently (I’ve seen so many posts about it) for two reasons. 1) The difference between the best (according to your own taste) font your IDE offers off the shelf, and the best font you can find anywhere in existence seems margina…
I suspect you've devoted more effort to these posts than most people here have to picking fonts.
Re: Victor Mono – A free programming font
#64Why is this better than Bitstream Vera Sans Mono, Consolas, SF Mono, Pragmata Pro, and Operator Mono? The reason can be anything, but what is the reason? I don't find that this font outperforms any of those fonts on any of the metrics listed on the website (crispness, legibility). Is this, like, a subjective thing? Or do I have bad taste?
(1) Do you have an objective metric of legibility? Can you measure it without running a large study? (2) Can you decide for yourself whether a particular font is better for you? Do you need an objective metric to persuade you? (3) Did you encounter projects that people do to scratch their own itch? Were any of them occasionally useful for a wider audience?
I only ask because the website says
"because there just wasn't any free or paid font that I found both readable, effective and elegant"
and I can think of several, including the ones I listed.
I'm not saying not to do projects like this! Scratching your own itch and sharing your solution is great. I'm just skeptical, as someone who has obsessively tried just about every programming font out there, when I read that a new font does something better than the handful of fonts I always end up returning to. What is that something?
Re: Victor Mono – A free programming font
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’m not blaming anybody for anything, and I understand that some people enjoy endlessly tinkering with their setups. What I don’t understand is why this particular topic has become so popular recently (I’ve seen so many posts about it) for two reasons. 1) The difference between the best (according to your own taste) font your IDE offers off the shelf, and the best font you can find anywhere in existence seems margina…
I suspect you've devoted more effort to these posts than most people here have to picking fonts.
Perhaps expressing a view that something is a waste of time is naturally a waste of time itself. That could be an interesting philosophical position to take, but I don’t think it contributes much to the discussion in this case. Perhaps I’m discussing the merits of the topic at hand to satisfy my own intellectual curiosity.
Re: Victor Mono – A free programming font
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
I suspect you've devoted more effort to these posts than most people here have to picking fonts.
Perhaps expressing a view that something is a waste of time is naturally a waste of time itself. That could be an interesting philosophical position to take, but I don’t think it contributes much to the discussion in this case. Perhaps I’m discussing the merits of the topic at hand to satisfy my own intellectual curiosity.
Interspersing aspersions against those who have different priorities is rarely a good way to “discuss the merits” of the topic at hand.
“Do people have so few problems to work on that this has become a reasonable use of their time?”
“completely beyond reason”
I don’t care a great deal about the topic, but it offends me when people with a passion for technical materials are disparaged for their interest.
Re: Victor Mono – A free programming font
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
Perhaps expressing a view that something is a waste of time is naturally a waste of time itself. That could be an interesting philosophical position to take, but I don’t think it contributes much to the discussion in this case. Perhaps I’m discussing the merits of the topic at hand to satisfy my own intellectual curiosity.
Interspersing aspersions against those who have different priorities is rarely a good way to “discuss the merits” of the topic at hand. “Do people have so few problems to work on that this has become a reasonable use of their time?” “completely beyond reason” I don’t care a great deal about the topic, but it offends me when people with a passion for technical materials are disparaged for their interest.
I haven’t made a single ad hominem here. The opinions I expressed were directed exclusively at the topic being discussed.
Re: Victor Mono – A free programming font
#68I appreciate the effort, the font looks solid, but I really don't understand the new trend of using italic in the code syntax. It seems like every trendy frontend engineer has their sublime text or vscode set up with a font that uses italic for imports, comments, etc and I really don't see the appeal.
From the OP's section titled "Why?" : > When it comes to programming fonts, I prefer something strict, readable and relatively condensed for the code proper, complemented with a more informal, flowing and human style for things like comments and reserved keywords.
Which only moves the question back a step. Why, exactly, make reserved words, comments, tag attributes, etc., explicitly less readable than the rest of the painfully wispy text?
I find this font terrible on a readability basis to start with. The italics just double down on the hatred of eyes. I get a designer wanting to imitate a lot of currently popular san serif fonts (though not why they would make the font so skinny and less readable than those fonts), but coding fonts are meant to be comfortable and readable, not pretty.
Re: Victor Mono – A free programming font
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
Interspersing aspersions against those who have different priorities is rarely a good way to “discuss the merits” of the topic at hand. “Do people have so few problems to work on that this has become a reasonable use of their time?” “completely beyond reason” I don’t care a great deal about the topic, but it offends me when people with a passion for technical materials are disparaged for their interest.
I haven’t made a single ad hominem here. The opinions I expressed were directed exclusively at the topic being discussed.
Ad hominem, no. Disparaging the interest, yes.
It’s possible to explore a topic without the disparagement but you keep reverting to the “waste of time” theme, which doesn’t indicate an interest in learning or persuasion.
Re: Victor Mono – A free programming font
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
From the OP's section titled "Why?" : > When it comes to programming fonts, I prefer something strict, readable and relatively condensed for the code proper, complemented with a more informal, flowing and human style for things like comments and reserved keywords.
Which only moves the question back a step. Why, exactly, make reserved words, comments, tag attributes, etc., explicitly less readable than the rest of the painfully wispy text? I find this font terrible on a readability basis to start with. The italics just double down on the hatred of eyes. I get a designer wanting to imitate a lot of currently popular san serif fonts (though not why they would make the font so ski…
Considering the author of this font pretty much made it for their own use, the answer to your question becomes: because that's their personal preference. No one needs to justify what font they prefer.
Then they decided to be nice and share it with the world for free.