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How the new open-source typeface used by GitHub and Mozilla came to be

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Re: How the new open-source typeface used by GitHub and Mozilla came to be

#31

Post by deltron3030 »

jackfraser wrote: post #26
ChuckMcM wrote: post #11

Link to the font: https://rsms.me/inter/ I am not one who gets worked up over typefaces so my short take is "yet another san-serif font" but the discussion about why he chose to do things in certain ways was useful for me in appreciating how this font differs from other, similar offerings.

I am at once awed by the level of work that goes into a really good typeface, and also astounded that this still seems to be a difficult sort of terrain that people are not just willing, but positively excited to summit. Why go to the trouble when your font is only going to be seen by a small number of people and used by even less? Are you really having any ideas that haven't been had already in plenty of other fonts…

Tiny changes to letters can have a big impact on how text blocks are perceived, fonts are utilitarian, but they're also design tools.

Re: How the new open-source typeface used by GitHub and Mozilla came to be

#32

Post by burfog »

rasmusfabbe wrote: post #23
AlanYx wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not just you... I think it reminds us of Helvetica because it borrows some common elements from Helvetica that are frequently changed in other Helvetica-like faces. For example, the ascender on the lowercase "t" is horizontal, unlike Arial. The apertures are also relatively tight, like Helvetica, and the x-heights are similar. I wouldn't say it's a clone though; it manages to look a little more humanist without…

Well observed. There are a myriad of influences in Inter, some from existing fonts, some from graphic design and shapes I’ve seen in my surroundings and some ideas that grew out of thoughts. For instance, the bend of the “t”, “f” et al just felt right and was not influenced by anything else but their own shapes. In contrast, the “a” was inspired by many existing typefaces like Akzidenz Grotesk, Helvetica, etc. The sh…

Thank you for not having the Vera l. Ever since Vera came out, most free fonts have had that l. I can't stand it.

I also appreciate having a real @ symbol, with a hole in the "a" and the back of the "a" separated from the loop.

I would prefer also:

traditional $ (with two bars)

traditional g (with two loops)

non-oblique #

tall (both ascend and descend) glyphs for paired grouping: () {} []

Re: How the new open-source typeface used by GitHub and Mozilla came to be

#33

Post by Skye »

This font reminds me a lot of "Rail Alphabet" which is a font designed by British Rail in the 60s which was used to railway signs and also in hospitals. Newer fonts are starting to replace it, but there is still a lot of it around if you know where to look.

Re: How the new open-source typeface used by GitHub and Mozilla came to be

#34

Post by daxterspeed »

Took me a bit to realize that this is the same font as "Inter UI" (which I installed right at the end of 2018). It was apparently renamed to just Inter in February this year.

The changelog provided on Github gives some interesting insight into development of this font https://github.com/rsms/inter/releases Not only have I found it rare to see a font with active development like this, but it's also exciting seeing changelogs that are this detailed.

Re: How the new open-source typeface used by GitHub and Mozilla came to be

#35

Post by meerita »

RobertKerans wrote: post #25
meerita wrote: post #13

Roboto is installed default on many systems, specially on phones. The speed factor to me is key. That's why I avoid using webfonts. I use both San Francisco for those on Mac and iOS and Roboto for the rest of the mortals, including other san-serifs.

One system (Android), not many.

Yes, but accounts my 65% of visits. I use other system fonts as a fallback.

Re: How the new open-source typeface used by GitHub and Mozilla came to be

#36

Post by Fnoord »

mark-r wrote: post #18
Fnoord wrote: post #6

> With a typeface, it's just this black box as to who is using some of the stuff, then you have no way of reaching back. You're completely reliant on whoever makes use of it tells you about it, which probably no one does, right? I've seen multiple websites (What The Font being one of them) which analyses a picture with text. They then try to guess the font being used. If you could automate this process, you might be…

What The Font does an amazing job sometimes, but it's not infallible. I'd say it misses more often than it hits. Web crawling seems like a great idea, but probably not worth it just to get a list of customers. And it will never tell you who's using it in their app, or for signage.

What The Font was an example. I used multiple tools to find an obscure font. It was my first time trying to search for 2 fonts whilst I only had logo where the 2 fonts were used. One was relatively easy, the other one not. It cost me some time because like you say not every tool is as good as you'd expect it to be, but I did succeed.

Re: How the new open-source typeface used by GitHub and Mozilla came to be

#37

Post by t34543 »

cosmotic wrote: post #8

Am I the only one that wishes the article about the font "made for screens" went into more detail about what makes this specific font better for screens?

I share the same sentiment. I’ve got a terrible eye for design and I don’t have the slightest idea about fonts. Articles like this remind me of my gaps and I’d love to pick up some knowledge.

Re: How the new open-source typeface used by GitHub and Mozilla came to be

#38

Post by 1123581321 »

jnwatson wrote: post #24
asadkn wrote: post #16

The most it resembles is the San Francisco font (Apple's default system font) which itself was inspired from Helvetica and DIN. Personally I liked this font much better than the other opensource alternatives, especially with the number of weights it offered. I am glad it's gotten popular.

Did Apple reuse the San Francisco font name? Man, they really aren’t in touch with their roots. The original San Francisco was designed by Susan Kare. You can see it here. [1] This makes me feel old. 1. https://images.fastcompany.net/image/upload/w_596,c_limit,q_...

Apple knows about Susan Kare’s work and its history with the font.
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