Finding the Best Programmer's Font

[P]
Finding the Best Programmer's Font

By n8f8 in Technology
Wed Dec 08, 2004 at 06:56:43 AM EST
Tags: Software (all tags) Software


Becoming frustrated with source code not aligning in my favorite source editor I decided to hunt for the best font. In particular, I began to hunt down the available fixed-width or monospaced fonts.

What are monospaced fonts you ask? From Xerox:
> Monospace fonts (Such as Courier or LetterGothic), or "fixed pitch" fonts, contain characters that all have the same character width, producing text that can be used to create forms, tabular material or documents that require exact text line lengths. An example of a fixed pitch font is Courier 12 pitch, which is a 10 point font that will print at exactly 12 characters per inch.

Why use monospaced fonts? Primarily because the text will align more readily. Especially is areas like the comment block header. Updated versions of this document will be located at http://www.lowing.org/fonts/



Good Programming Font Criteria

* Crisp clear characters.
* Extended characterset.
* Good use of whitespace.
* 'l', '1' and 'i' are easily distinguished
* '0', 'o' and 'O' are easily distinguished
* forward quotes from back quotes are easily distinguished -prefer mirrored appearance
* Clear punctuation characters, especially braces, parenthesis and brackets

Fonts Reviewed (Best Listed First) (View All)(Name, Sizes, Type, Description, Download Info)

1. Bitstream Vera Sans Mono (View Sample)
* 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 36, 48, 72
* TrueType
* Plenty of space between lines, dotted zeros, clean.
* http://www.gnome.org/fonts/
2. ti92pluspc (View Sample)
*
* TrueType
* Clear, Dark, slashed zeros.
* http://www.tamuk.edu/math/scott/stars/tutorial.htm
3. Crystal (View Sample)
*
* TrueType
* Clear, Dark, slashed zeros.
* Availiable with free Povray software. http://www.povray.org/povlegal.html
4. Monaco (View Sample)
* 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 36, 48, 72
* TrueType
* Plenty of whitespace, slashed zeros, serifed i's.
* From Apple. http://www.pa.msu.edu/ftp/pub/misc/tek-phaser/ttfonts/MONACO.TTF or http://www.sttc.net.au/drivers/CLC/CLBP460/PS3FONTS/TRUETYPE/
5. Anonymous (View Sample)
* 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 36, 48, 72
* TrueType
* Less whitespace, slashed zeros, very clear.
* http://www.ms-studio.com/FontSales/anonymous.html
6. Andale Mono (View Sample)
* 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 36, 48, 72
* TrueType
* Tons of space between lines, dotted zeros.
* http://corefonts.sourceforge.net/
7. Raize (View Sample)
* 10, 12, 14
* Bitmap
* Sharp, Legible, slashed zeros
* http://www.raize.com/DevTools/Tools/RzFont.zip
8. ProFontWindows (View Sample)
* 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 36, 48, 72
* TrueType or Bitmap
* Clean, slashed zeros, really wide.
* http://66.167.72.10/ProFontWindows.zip
9. Sheldon (View Sample)
* 9
* Bitmap
* Plenty of whitespace, real clear, slashed zeros.
* http://www.tobias-jung.de/seekingprofont/
10. BSU Kermit (View Sample)
* 9
* Bitmap
* Zeros Slashed, thin, spread out
* http://home.datacomm.ch/privmsg/havoc/mircscript.htm
11. Lucida Sans Typewriter Regula (View Sample)
* 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 36, 48, 72
* TrueType
* Zeros Not Slashed
* Available with free Java 2 SDK. http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/download.html
12. Courier New (View Sample)
* 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 36, 48, 72
* TrueType
* Lots whitespace between lines, no zero treatment.
* http://corefonts.sourceforge.net/
13. Courier (View Sample)
* 10, 12, 15
* TrueType
* Clean but spread out, no zero treatment.
* Installed with Windows
14. Lucida Consolev (View Sample)
* 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 36, 48, 72
* TrueType
* Letters bunched, no zero treatment, clean text.
* http://corefonts.sourceforge.net/
15. ProggyTiny (View Sample)
* 8
* Bitmap
* Really tiny, dotted zeros
* http://www.tactile3d.com/tristan/
16. ProggyClean (View Sample)
* 8
* Bitmap
* Typeriter appearance, dotted zeros
* http://www.tactile3d.com/tristan/
17. Fixedsys (View Sample)
* 9
* TrueType
* Really Dark, slashed zeros
* http://fixedsys.moviecorner.de
18. Topaz-8 (View Sample)
* 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 36, 48, 72
* TrueType
* Amiga Topaz-8. Little space between lines, slashed zeros, fat/squat text
* http://66.167.72.10/Topaz-8.zip
19. Free Monospaced (View Sample)
* 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 36, 48, 72
* TrueType
* Unreadable crap.
* http://ftp.gnu.org/savannah/files/freefont/
20. MS Mincho (View Sample)
* 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 36, 48, 72
* TrueType
* No Zero treatment, clear text
* Installed with Windows or Office. Try Google.
21. Hyperfont (View Sample)
* 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 36, 48, 72
* TrueType
* Thin, spread out, slashed zeros
* ftp://ftp.hilgraeve.com/pub/vendor/hilgraeve/hyprfont.zip
22. Squareshooter Mono (View Sample)
* 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 36, 48, 72
* TrueType
* Tons of room between lines, spread out,squarish, slashed zeros
* http://freefonts.fateback.com/hypotypo/

Font Tools

* Font properties extension for Windows
* Enumerate all Fixed-Width fonts installed in Windows Download binary