Google releases its new Google Sans Flex font as open source

Post by eviks » Sat, Dec 13, 2025, 7:46 AM UTC

virtue3 wrote: post #45

cloudflare728 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would someone spend years developing a front where you can't tell the difference between Il or 0O? Doesn't it hurt their ego at personal level?

they probably deem it as not important. "Context is all you need to tell the difference, keep the font clean"

Post by BrandoElFollito » Sat, Dec 13, 2025, 12:34 PM UTC

Brajeshwar wrote: post #98

lucb1e wrote: post #9

Where possible, I've stopped picking fonts that don't distinguish lowercase l and uppercase I. Words virtually always have redundancy (or context in the sentence) and it's fine in 98% of cases, but too often someone sends a token, password, name, or other string where you need to copy it out to another application to see it and just... why? Why bother? I/O test for Sans Flex: https://snipboard.io/wXCQq5.jpg It passes…

This is an Interface font, most suited for User Interfaces (Websites, Apps, etc). Almost all fonts that I have seen that distinguish the “O0 & Il” properly do not look good when used as an Interface font, but look good as an editor or something you do with it (Notes). For instance, I set Inter[1] as my UI font in Obsidian, but I have set “Atkinson Hyperlegible Next”[2] as my Editor Font. I would gladly use such clean…

Post by Brajeshwar » Sat, Dec 13, 2025, 12:41 PM UTC

BrandoElFollito wrote: post #104

Brajeshwar wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is an Interface font, most suited for User Interfaces (Websites, Apps, etc). Almost all fonts that I have seen that distinguish the “O0 & Il” properly do not look good when used as an Interface font, but look good as an editor or something you do with it (Notes). For instance, I set Inter[1] as my UI font in Obsidian, but I have set “Atkinson Hyperlegible Next”[2] as my Editor Font. I would gladly use such clean…

Atkinson Hyperlegible is great, shame that there is no monospaced version. And the slash on the 0 is backwards :)

Post by giancarlostoro » Sat, Dec 13, 2025, 4:36 PM UTC

adrian_b wrote: post #72

giancarlostoro wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a manager who preferred monospaced font, it definitely made it easier in a lot of cases. I also notice a number of them make i l and I and 1 distinct enough.

Except for ancient typefaces like Courier, which predate their use in computers, most monospaced fonts that have been created during the last 40 years have been intended for use by programmers or in command-line interfaces. Therefore having non-ambiguous characters has been an explicit design requirement for them, at least since the Apple Monaco font.

Post by BoiledCabbage » Sat, Dec 13, 2025, 8:29 PM UTC

lucb1e wrote: post #83

virtue3 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

they probably deem it as not important. "Context is all you need to tell the difference, keep the font clean"

Then they can also coalesce the digit 1 into uppercase i and lowercase L because who cares right it gotta look clean. And why bother deviating from the perfect circle? The future is lowercase o, also for zeroes. Heck, why do we have the letter J anyway? Couldn't we merge that with I? It's so rarely used, it sounds iust about the same, let's iust "keep it clean" I really can't imagine this is the thinking