Poll: What is your favorite programming font?

41 points by gnosis ↗ HN

69 comments

[ 2.5 ms ] story [ 158 ms ] thread
Lucida Console, but I secretly long to use Ransom Note.
Pragmata Pro
I used this for a while, but found it packed a little too tight horizontally. With widescreen monitors and languages where keeping to 80 columns is still standard, I found it was wasting too much space. There's only so much code I want on my screen at any one time before it's more overwhelming than actually useful.
I use it and typically have my font size set fairly large. One advantage of this is that it encourages short code blocks.

Then, if I'm dealing with code that is massively indented, like HTML, or JS with deeply nested callbacks, I can shrink down to a normal font size and still be able to read while also being able to see everything.

Definitely Envy Code R.
Source Code Pro
most definitely Source Code Pro
yes, most definitely Source Code Pro.

The fact this wasn't even an option makes this poll ridiculous.

Also my current favourite — the light version specifically, with semibold as the bold variation.
IBM 3278 terminal font. Found no scalable version, so I had to make my own: https://github.com/rbanffy/3270font
that's a great job reproducing the font, although I'm having too much trouble with the l1I on that to use it regularly
Thanks. You can always play with FontForge and make your own version. Just fork it.
TheSansMono Condensed at 13pt, with slightly increased line spacing.

You'll probably balk at the price (as did I), but you can buy single weights.

Bitstream Vera Sans Mono is the only smooth font I've been able to find that still looks good at smaller sizes, which means more lines of code on the screen. Combined with Solarized (usually light), my eyes have been really really spoiled.
I prefer Adobe's Source Code Pro Light on a Retina screen. The Retina part is important, I don't think this is a nice font on a low-dpi screen :-)
I don't know AKA the default on sublime/eclipse/etc in the OS that I'm using
Kinda odd to not include Menlo, the default font in Xcode.

Not sure that's my favorite (and I've gotten a lot less picky about programming fonts over the years) but it seems an odd omission.

Menlo is definitely my favorite.
Monaco actually ships as the default in iTerm (although Terminal.app has been Menlo for a while), and I always switch it to Menlo.
I like my deja vu sans but I wish it had a slashed zero.
Try the Droid Sans Mono variant with slashed zero.

http://blog.cosmix.org/2009/10/27/a-slashed-zero-droid-sans-...

Thank you for this. I think this variant might tear me away from my long-time favorite, Inconsolata. It seems very close, yet even more readable. I love it.
I have (and I just did again). Maybe I should give it more time to warm up to it? If I can't get a slashed zero deja vu sans mono, I will just have to buy a hi-res screen so the zero dot is less ugly (should do anyway).

So, before submitting, I found a slashed version (saved) and I am now happy! I forget source, but can email to people who want.

Ah, it's "What's your favorite X?" time again! +1 for Source Code Pro.
Who cares? The best font is consolas. No debate, just is.
I find the 1 and l in Consolas to be far too similar.
Consolas has too much of a Microsoft flavor for my tastes. That, and I find its less angular competitor Inconsolata to be much cleaner and more elegant.
I used Consolas a lot, but eventually switched to fixed. Fixed just lets me pack a lot more text on my screen, which is very important for my functions.
6x13
I do agree. The aspect ratio is perfect, and it's very readable for its size.

I've used the same version of 6x13 on Windows (http://www.hassings.dk/lars/fonts.html) since forever, pretty much, and before that I used some other version of 6x13. Today, 15 years since I first set eyes on it, it's still my console font and my emacs font.

Unfortunately, modern versions of Visual Studio don't support bitmap fonts, so for that I've had to change to 9 point MS Gothic. This has one unusual feature ('\' appears as a yen symbol, since it's a Japanese font), and the descenders are rather short (presumably Japanese readers are differently sensitive to this stuff), but it's tall like 6x13, pixel-perfect at 9 point size, and perfectly serviceable for programming work.

(There's also a serif equivalent, MS Mincho, which is usable but a bit fussy for my taste. 8 point Gungsuh Che and Gulim Che are also workable, but I found them a bit fussy too. I think they are Korean or Chinese.)

I've loved a variant of Inconsolata called "Inconsolata-dz".

It's a fantastic font.

I wonder how many of who voted "None of the above" standard X11 fonts like misc-fixed-medium-r-normal-* ?

At least its good that "None of the above", and it reminds me on an old Yellow Biafra claim:

Every election should offer a "None of them", and the election must be repeated with new canidates, if "None of them" wins.

Voting is about choosing the "least worse" candidate, not the best one for the job. Choosing nothing is not a choice. But choosing between 2 parties is not a choice either.
Ubuntu Mono / Lucida Console