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Myna: Monospace typeface designed for symbol-heavy programming languages

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Re: Myna: Monospace typeface designed for symbol-heavy programming languages

#141

Post by crazygringo »

xigoi wrote: post #103
crazygringo wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it might be useful to put some screenshots of other fonts on your page, to show what symbol or alignment problems yours corrects. Because I've studied a lot of typeface design, and I can't really figure out what you're doing, what pain points you're trying to address. Because when you say "and $, @, % seem ever mismatched?", I don't have the slightest idea what you're talking about. I certainly am curious tho…

They are definitely not aligned for me: https://i.postimg.cc/cHXyWhYT/Screenshot-2025-11-08-07-47-37...

Very curious what your browser+OS is, and what monospaced font it's using (if you have access to the web inspector).

A search on Google Fonts shows most monospaced fonts keep them vertically aligned, but there definitely are exceptions:

https://fonts.google.com/?preview.text=%3C-%3E%3D%2B-~&categ...

Re: Myna: Monospace typeface designed for symbol-heavy programming languages

#142

Post by xigoi »

crazygringo wrote: post #141
xigoi wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are definitely not aligned for me: https://i.postimg.cc/cHXyWhYT/Screenshot-2025-11-08-07-47-37...

Very curious what your browser+OS is, and what monospaced font it's using (if you have access to the web inspector). A search on Google Fonts shows most monospaced fonts keep them vertically aligned, but there definitely are exceptions: https://fonts.google.com/?preview.text=%3C-%3E%3D%2B-~&categ...

Iceraven (a fork of Firefox Android). Unfortunately mobile browsers don’t have devtools :(

Re: Myna: Monospace typeface designed for symbol-heavy programming languages

#144

Post by fph »

sayyadirfanali wrote: post #99
fph wrote: post #26

The Latex example should include at least a math formula.

agreed. formulae are essential LaTeX. are there any particular glyphs compositions which you'd suggest?

Thanks! For something more complex, I suggest a moderately complex formula with parentheses and superscripts like $f \in \mathcal{C}^0([a,b])$, an equation delimited by \[...\], and maybe a macro declaration with parameters like \newcommand\halves[1]{\frac{#1}{2}}.

Re: Myna: Monospace typeface designed for symbol-heavy programming languages

#145

Post by bityard »

I think one thing you are running into here in the HN comments is that ligatures as they relate to source code editing can be somewhat controversial among developers who are especially vocal about their preferences.

Some people believe that ligatures make source code more readable. Even, perhaps, beautiful or "comfy."

Others feel that past a certain point, programming font choice doesn't really matter much and that too much time spent sharpening the saw means you never get around to cutting the wood. Or that hiding two physical symbols behind a single logical one for the sake of aesthetics is somewhere between pointless and dishonest.

Still others are of the opinion that we wouldn't need ligatures at all if programming languages understood Unicode. The other problem of course being that most of us don't have Unicode keyboards.

Your project seems to have somehow managed to upset all three camps and for that, I salute you and have starred your project on GitHub.

Re: Myna: Monospace typeface designed for symbol-heavy programming languages

#146

Post by tacker2000 »

eviks wrote: post #134
tacker2000 wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes the keyboard layouts we have nowadays are actually suboptimal for touch typing, but nobody has ever managed to change them on a global scale. So why would one change the keyboard layouts just because somebody needs an arrow for programming? This is such a niche use case that it will never happen. Also many programmers will not want to use the unicode arrow instead of ->, thats a personal choice and nothing else.…

> This is such a niche use case that it will never happen. How do you square this with the simple fact that it has already happened? And just as simple of a forecast: it will continue to happen. > Also many programmers will not want to use the unicode arrow instead of ->, thats a personal choice and nothing else. So what? Other programmers will. But I don't get your general point - are you saying that the only change…

You are talking about changing arrows to unicode arrows.

These arrow symbols are NOT identifiers but a specific syntax used in these C type languages, and then you give examples of identifiers being able to be specified in unicode.

This is not the same thing, so i have to assume that you are confused here.

Also, my point is that keyboard layouts are so ingrained that they will never change, and even if they change, it wouldnt be for some niche use like using unicode arrows.

Re: Myna: Monospace typeface designed for symbol-heavy programming languages

#147

Post by leephillips »

sayyadirfanali wrote: post #90
leephillips wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

APL

i don't think that qualifies. because the alignment issue is about multi-line alignment of upward arrows. APL usage is clearly meant to be covered by some single Unicode glyph.

Ah, yes, I see now. I can’t imagine using a programming language where I had to compose symbols vertically. I don’t know if any such infernal language exists, and I don’t understand why o11c thinks it matters.

Re: Myna: Monospace typeface designed for symbol-heavy programming languages

#148

Post by eviks »

tacker2000 wrote: post #146
eviks wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is such a niche use case that it will never happen. How do you square this with the simple fact that it has already happened? And just as simple of a forecast: it will continue to happen. > Also many programmers will not want to use the unicode arrow instead of ->, thats a personal choice and nothing else. So what? Other programmers will. But I don't get your general point - are you saying that the only change…

You are talking about changing arrows to unicode arrows. These arrow symbols are NOT identifiers but a specific syntax used in these C type languages, and then you give examples of identifiers being able to be specified in unicode. This is not the same thing, so i have to assume that you are confused here. Also, my point is that keyboard layouts are so ingrained that they will never change, and even if they change, i…

> This is not the same thing

So what? How is that relevant to your argument about fatal confusion? Why is confusion in supporting var𓀄 ok, but confusion supporting → in addition to -> suddenly fatal???

> they will never change

What's the point of this point, what does it address in this conversation? Who is talking about mandatory or even necessary global layout changes? Did you miss one of the alternatives I mentioned that allows changing nothing on your input side by letting your editor auto-substitute?

Re: Myna: Monospace typeface designed for symbol-heavy programming languages

#149

Post by [deleted] »

bityard wrote: post #145

I think one thing you are running into here in the HN comments is that ligatures as they relate to source code editing can be somewhat controversial among developers who are especially vocal about their preferences. Some people believe that ligatures make source code more readable. Even, perhaps, beautiful or "comfy." Others feel that past a certain point, programming font choice doesn't really matter much and that t…

[deleted]

Re: Myna: Monospace typeface designed for symbol-heavy programming languages

#150

Post by sayyadirfanali »

rbanffy wrote: post #139
sayyadirfanali wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

designer here. by symbol-heavy languages i mean languages like Perl and Haskell which make heavy use of symbols (sigils in Perl and operators in Haskell). Myna was designed after my frustration with other monospace fonts combined with my (self-imposed) inability to use ligatures.

Where does the design for the text characters come from? Is it based on a mono font you find readable?

Myna's predecessor was a customised version of Source Code Pro. but i've changed a lot of glyphs by borrowing designs and modifying glyphs. so, it may not look like it at all now.
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