Top 10 Programming Fonts
I’m a typeface geek, and when it comes to selecting a font I’llstare at all day, I tend to be pretty picky. Recently, when Idiscovered that a friend was using a sub par typeface (too horrible toname here) for his Terminal and coding windows, my jaw dropped, myheart sank a little, and I knew it was due time for me to compose thisarticle.What follows is a round-up of the top 10readily-available monospace fonts. Many of these fonts are bundledalong with modern operating systems, but most are free for download onthe web. A few, notably Consolas, are part of commercial software.
A note about anti-aliasing
Inthe past, we’ve had to decide between tiny monospace fonts or jaggededges. But today, modern operating systems do a great job ofanti-aliasing, making monospace fonts look great at any size. It’s not1990 anymore. Give your tired eyes a break and bump up that font size.
If you have any doubt that anti-aliased fonts are apropos for code, note that even the venerable BBEdit— which for years has shipped with un-aliased Monaco 9 set as thedefault — has made the jump. The app now ships with a speciallylicensed version of the Consolas font from Ascender, bumped up in size,and with anti-aliasing on by default. Panic includes a special anti-aliased font (Panic Sans, which is actually just a version of Deja Vu Sans Mono) with its popular Coda application.
Unlessotherwise noted, I’ve used a larger size font, 15-point in fact, forthe examples here to illustrate their legibility at larger sizes andwith anti-aliasing turned on.
10. Courier
Allsystems ship with a version of Courier (sometimes Courier New), andunfortunately, many have it set as the default font for terminal andeditor windows. It does the job, but it’s a bit dull and boring,lacking style and class. I don’t recommend this font if you have anyother choice — and fortunately, you do. If you use this font, pleasebump the size and turn on anti-aliasing.
<div class="figure">http://hivelogic.com/img/uploads/courier-new.pngFigure 1 Courier New
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