CodingFont: A game to help you pick a coding font
182 points
4 hours ago
| 62 comments
| codingfont.com
| HN
tmtvl
1 minute ago
[-]
The font I use, IBM Plex Mono, I chose not because I love the font, but because it's the one I love most of the fonts with CJK variants (which basically means IBM Plex, Google Noto, or Adobe Source). It's unfortunate because I really like Libertinus (a rare serif monospace font), but trying to match different non-CJK and CJK fonts that work well together is annoying.
reply
torgeros
15 minutes ago
[-]
Knowing that everything in here is people asking why their font is missing: I highly recommend having a look at

[ MAPLE MONO ]

(on Github https://github.com/subframe7536/Maple-font). It has amazing readability, looks nice, is compatible with NF if you use that. I received compliments from people looking over my shoulder for my f'ing font?! Huge shoutout to subframe7536 ^^

reply
ksymph
2 minutes ago
[-]
[delayed]
reply
sedatk
49 minutes ago
[-]
Berkeley Mono, Iosevka, and Cascadia Code are missing which are my favorite fonts. The game handed me Roboto Mono instead.

What I noticed while playing was that when fonts are similar, I really pay attention to the rendering of "m" and "r". When they look off, the whole font looks off to me.

reply
CoolGuySteve
2 minutes ago
[-]
It's really funny that after going through all those fonts it landed on Ubuntu Mono for me which is what I use anyways to code in my terminal.

I wonder if it's Stockholm syndrome or if I really do prefer it. It's a totally fine font, I've never felt the need to change it. All the default open source mono fonts seem completely adequate I suppose.

reply
delecti
1 hour ago
[-]
I clicked this link with the thought "I'm curious, but I don't think I really have strong opinions about fonts", and was almost immediately proven wrong with the revulsion I felt at Xanh Mono.

Though it turns out that VS Code default (Droid Sans Mono) is (to my eye) basically identical to my winner (Roboto Mono), so the exercise was mostly academic.

reply
sodimel
3 hours ago
[-]
My coding font is comic-shanns-mono, here's how it looks: https://github.com/jesusmgg/comic-shanns-mono?tab=readme-ov-...
reply
card_zero
2 hours ago
[-]
I was intrigued by a font called Codemonkey. This site has lots of classic comic fonts, including WildWords which is used in pretty much every manga translation.

https://www.comicbookfonts.com/Code-Monkey-Variable-font-p/b...

Unfortunately plus signs display as blank spaces in the test drive. Oh well.

reply
nvahalik
3 hours ago
[-]
I initially used this one when I started playing around with Zed on a personal project, but I kept it and it has grown on me considerably.
reply
vladde
3 hours ago
[-]
similar situation here, but i used it because i thought it was funny... then kept it because it grew on me haha. had it for a few years, might give it a spin again
reply
other_herbert
2 hours ago
[-]
Comic Code Ligatures for me :D
reply
dunham
5 minutes ago
[-]
Yeah, a few years ago I tried the free ones, but eventually settled on Comic Code. I've been using it ever since - it's pleasant to code with. (If anyone is considering this - the "essentials" set with bold/italic is around $30. You don't need the full set.)
reply
speedgoose
1 hour ago
[-]
Same. It has a double-storey a, which I prefer a lot.
reply
rjsw
1 hour ago
[-]
Reminds me of the original Smalltalk font.
reply
deepriverfish
1 hour ago
[-]
I use comic mono myself
reply
john_strinlai
2 hours ago
[-]
i like that way more than i would have thought simply based on the name.
reply
dhorthy
1 hour ago
[-]
diabolical
reply
bolp
52 minutes ago
[-]
Thanks, I hate it.
reply
akarlsten
1 hour ago
[-]
Cool, obviously a lot of people are going to quibble about the default lineup (wheres Iosevka?) but for anyone who hasn't nailed down a preference it seems great!
reply
KronisLV
2 hours ago
[-]
Nowadays I use a lot of Iosevka. Previously I was on Ubuntu and JetBrains Mono, both are great fonts. A bit of PT Mono as well, even Terminus for a bit. One of my favorites has got to be Liberation Mono though - the most readable font I’ve ever found, even if Iosevka lets me put more stuff on screen horizontally. Oh also I’ve started enjoying Cascadia Code recently, surprisingly pleasant.
reply
craftkiller
59 minutes ago
[-]
Yeah I was disappointed that Cascadia was not in the fonts on the site. What won me over for Cascadia was: I decided to try it for a couple weeks. By the end, I was certain that Cascadia must be larger than my previous font because it was so much easier to read, so I opened two terminals side-by-side and counted the rows+columns that fit between my old font and Cascadia. To my complete shock, Cascadia fit a couple more lines on my screen, indicating that it was actually _smaller_ despite being easier to read.
reply
i18nagentai
16 minutes ago
[-]
Nice concept. One thing font comparison tools usually miss is how well the font handles non-Latin scripts — if you're working on i18n code with mixed CJK/Cyrillic/Arabic in string literals, many popular coding fonts fall apart. JetBrains Mono and Iosevka handle this reasonably well, but most others default to system fallbacks that break the visual alignment.
reply
foltik
5 minutes ago
[-]
Silence, clanker.
reply
JasonSage
3 hours ago
[-]
I enjoyed this, though my font preferences are pretty stable.

It would be nice if it showed you 1st, 2nd, semi-finalist, quarter-finalist...

It would also be nice to see progress of some kind, a few minutes in I was wondering if I was near completion or just getting started.

reply
croemer
2 hours ago
[-]
It does show you on the left. Just not on the certificate.
reply
Izkata
1 hour ago
[-]
> t would also be nice to see progress of some kind

It's hidden behind the menu button on mobile.

reply
gkhartman
11 minutes ago
[-]
Neat educational game. Would have liked to see Maple Mono in the line up, but I'm sure you've gotta draw the line somewhere or the game would be too tedious.
reply
lemontheme
23 minutes ago
[-]
Lately I've taken to Iosevka, the 'curly' variant to be precise. Even though I hated it when I first tried it, I revisited it because I was noticing that, with coding agents running in the same window, I wanted to be able to see more at a glance. With Iosevka's semi-width glyphs you can just fit a lot more in the same space. Took a day or two to get used to its slender appearance. Now every other font feels unnecessarily w i d e
reply
aquir
3 hours ago
[-]
For me it's Berkeley Mono...I was unable to find anything that comes close to it. But this games is fun and the result is a font that is similar to my favourite
reply
sevg
2 hours ago
[-]
Another Berkeley Mono user here!

I came from Fira Code to JetBrains Mono to MonoLisa (several years each) then finally settled on Berkeley Mono and refuse to use anything else!

reply
coldcity_again
1 hour ago
[-]
I got PT Mono in the game, but this gave me the kick I needed to remember about ProggyClean[1] and track it down. Used to love it many years ago, time to give it another spin and see if it holds its own.

There's a vector version[2] now too!

[1]: http://proggyfonts.net/

[2]: https://github.com/bluescan/proggyfonts/tree/master/ProggyVe...

reply
mosburger
1 hour ago
[-]
I got Source Code Pro. My daily driver is currently 0xProto, but I didn't see that in the game (admittedly I think it's kinda rarely used).
reply
brandonasuncion
1 hour ago
[-]
I got the same result. I usually use Monaspace by GitHub. Interestingly, they both use texture healing.

https://github.com/githubnext/monaspace/blob/main/docs/Textu...

reply
regus
3 hours ago
[-]
As I get older I prefer the text on my screen to be bigger than usual. Most websites tend to have super small fonts for some reason.

For coding I much prefer fonts that are bold and easier to read. Who actually likes these whimsical cursive looking comments or super thin looking fonts?

I ended up with "Roboto Mono" btw.

reply
trinari
2 hours ago
[-]
uh isn't the font size kinda independant from the font style?
reply
SAI_Peregrinus
1 hour ago
[-]
Not entirely. The font "size" is the height of each character, not the width they take up or the stroke thickness. So some fonts will have narrow characters & display more characters horizontally than fonts with wider characters.
reply
lstodd
2 hours ago
[-]
It is, but noone serious has time for appreciating latest trends in web typography, so we just hit the reader mode on load.
reply
keithxm23
2 hours ago
[-]
I'd love to see a page which tracked stats for what the majority of users were picking
reply
ale
2 hours ago
[-]
I stopped looking for fonts after I got comfortable tweaking the metric settings of Iosevka. My current setup exports a set of really compressed cuts (more compressed than Pragmata Pro) which I've always found hard to come by.
reply
trinari
2 hours ago
[-]
now i'm curious. care to share you're settings?
reply
ale
1 hour ago
[-]
Sure. The glyph replacements match the "plain" style of SF Mono, Inter, etc.

https://pastebin.com/d3RzBR6B

reply
deepriverfish
1 hour ago
[-]
A few years ago I found comic mono and monofur for Powerline. I switch between the 2 when I get bored of one or the other. I decided I won't try any new fonts, it's a waste of time for me and I hate having too many options to choose from, not only fonts but basically everything else too, it's distracting. Same for my editor's theme, I switch between Braver's Solarized Light and Radical.

This way I can focus on coding and less on tweaking my environment.

reply
TacticalCoder
1 hour ago
[-]
> This way I can focus on coding and less on tweaking my environment.

I made myself my own pixel-perfect perfect font, more than 10 years ago. I simply copy it from one system to the next one when I upgrade (either the machine or the OS).

It's basically a modified pixel-perfect Terminus font, but with some elements mixed from an old pixel-perfect Monaco font and some modification of mine.

Something I cannot live without is a tall pipe symbol. And my pipe symbol must have a hole in it in the middle (and it cannot be mistaken for an exclamation mark).

I've got the following as a quick test. The reason for a,b,c,e is to verify that <>,{},[], etc. all perfectly align vertically.

Everything is correct, to the pixel.

I don't believe in anti-aliasing for a coding font, not even on a retina display, and I love my 3840x1600 pixels 38" monitor and it's pixel size is perfect to me.

    RA $|-sSTtf the little fortran

    gqy z2Z s5S 8B CG6 DO uv ;; these should look different (8 / B is difficult to get right)
    a!?aA!    [a]
    b!?b      {b}
    c?!d      (c)
    c?c       <e>
    c!c

    if ( a && b || c & d) { [0x88, 0x42, 0xFA, 0xdeadcafebabe]; }

    *if ( a && b || c & d) { [0x88, 0x42, 0xFA, 0xdeadcafebabe]; }*

    ;; found somewhere
    lnt foob1x -= {(0)} "'foo'bar";
    int foOblx == ((0)) 'foo`bar`' `"':
    |nt f0obIx += {{o}} '"O08! LIl1i!!| 7?
the lowercase 's' has a shorter upper bar and the lowercase 'l' is stylised.

The thing is: I obsessed for days, creating my own pixel-perfect font. And I don't need to tweak it anymore: it's perfect (to me, YMMV) and I use it ever since.

Can't share it as I reused both Terminus and chars from Monaco.

FWIW I had more than 10/10 eyesight (once you get at 10, there are additional tests) and in my entire life I've never seen one person beat me at the "read sign on the highway". Pixel-perfect font, no AA, custom made font for me. YMMV. Haters gonna hate.

reply
enriquto
28 minutes ago
[-]
I'm probably your twin, separated at birth... may you share your bitmap font?

> I don't believe in anti-aliasing for a coding font, not even on a retina display

This is a very good point. As resolution increases, antialiased fonts become less ugly, but also less necessary. Thus at no resolution they make any sense; but they look ridiculous for different reasons.

reply
lordgrenville
28 minutes ago
[-]
Nice idea, would be good to add a third option for "these look indistinguishable" (and then I guess they could be bundled together in later stages).
reply
chungy
3 hours ago
[-]
One nit about the site: the screen elements forced me to make my browser window more than half the size of my screen, and I use a 3840×2160 monitor. My windows are normally about ⅕ the size of the screen and roughly 4:3 ratio shaped. It was nearly unusable like that (I don't suffer issues from almost any other site.)

On the game/bracket: it narrowed me down to Noto Sans Mono and I'm honestly not surprised, it's one of the few fonts that comes with my operating system that I find acceptable.

That being said, what I actually have my terminal and Emacs set to is “AcPlus IBM VGA 8x16” from https://int10h.org/oldschool-pc-fonts/. I've always been fond of the VGA font and it tickles all the right usability marks for me.

reply
0x457
1 hour ago
[-]
Surprised that I picked Oxygen Mono over Noto, but probably because I wasn't aware of Oxygen.

Would be nice to be able to play it with my own fonts because some got eliminated purely because 0 (zero) looked like O (letter). Fira Code was a winner only because there weren't paid fonts that I use.

reply
whynotmaybe
1 hour ago
[-]
Exactly, it's not really a "coding" font if 0 is like O
reply
timeinput
2 hours ago
[-]
IBM Plex Mono -- I guess no one ever got fired for choosing IBM?
reply
sneak
2 hours ago
[-]
IBM Plex Mono Ultralight is a joy to look at on a high DPI display.
reply
mrweasel
1 hour ago
[-]
Do you mean Extralight, I can't seem to find the Ultralight. It's probably just my eyes getting older, but I start to prefer chunkier fonts and 18pt.

Plex is a beautiful font, and one of the few corporate fonts that I actually think works, while being recognizable as being IBM.

reply
stared
1 hour ago
[-]
I like, as it is quick to decide, and you can see font names afterwards (some indeed looked similar).

At the same time, it would be wonderful if window sizes were more consistent (now things are obstructed, with scrolling, etc). And I would love to download the ranking graph!

reply
thetwentyone
59 minutes ago
[-]
I wish it had my favorite in it so that I could do a blind test to see if it really is my favorite: https://juliamono.netlify.app
reply
BruceEel
2 hours ago
[-]
Well, Atkinson Hyperlegible Mono ... - thank you!!!
reply
starkparker
1 hour ago
[-]
I already use Inconsolata but had customized it to a point where I didn't recognize it here. It won anyway. Validation!
reply
ralferoo
48 minutes ago
[-]
It told me I should use Incosolata. I've used Consolas for as long as I can remember, so I guess they must be pretty similar.

Also, about half of these fonts look utterly unsuitable for coding to me. Nobody really needs serifs and loopy l's in a coding font, surely?

reply
davidpfarrell
1 hour ago
[-]
Because I'm lazy, and forgetful, I went back to my comment from a previous time this was posted:

* https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42554715

Results: Roboto Mono !

reply
vindex10
37 minutes ago
[-]
Thanks! A lot of fun!

I'm using Liberation Mono, and it's missing :( i got PT Mono though.

reply
oneneptune
52 minutes ago
[-]
Courier Prime won for me, I've always been a courier fan I guess because I wrote all my books in the 90s with it..
reply
Surac
2 hours ago
[-]
Source Code Pro was my winner in this test. I use Iosevka on a regular base
reply
airstrike
27 minutes ago
[-]
please add TokyoNight and its variants. I can't imagine using any other theme!
reply
dmd
50 minutes ago
[-]
I was pleased to find that I chose the font I actually use.
reply
Measter
43 minutes ago
[-]
Hilariously, I had the exact opposite. I use Fira Code, which I eliminated in the first round.
reply
nikitadotla
2 hours ago
[-]
Ubuntu Mono. I have been using JetBrains Mono for last 2 years and surprisingly I rejected it in a second iteration.
reply
embedding-shape
3 hours ago
[-]
Doesn't it kind of default the purpose if you can't see it in the actual environment you'd be using it? I know the differences are very minor between terminals and browsers when it comes to font rendering, but this seems like a tool that should be a plugin with the editor people are intending to use the font with, rather than a website.
reply
diehunde
1 hour ago
[-]
Did the whole thing. I got IBM Plex. Actually looks great
reply
whalesalad
59 minutes ago
[-]
This is my daily driver, although recently I have been enjoying Cascadia Code for something fresh.
reply
krunck
38 minutes ago
[-]
Roboto Mono for the win.
reply
croemer
2 hours ago
[-]
Played it twice to see if it's reproducible. First time, Fira Code; second time Source Code Pro. Source Code Pro came in second first time round as well. Been using Fira Code until now.
reply
abound
3 hours ago
[-]
Obligatory shout-out to Berkeley Mono [1], which understandably isn't on this site because it's a paid font. I really enjoy the customizer that comes with it, I use the font on all my terminal/IDE environments, as well as on my blog.

(FWIW, I just did the codingfont bracket and got Source Code Pro, which I've used in the past, along with Iosevka and Commit Mono)

[1] https://usgraphics.com/products/berkeley-mono

reply
phplovesong
2 hours ago
[-]
Been running Berkeley Mono for years. Before that i flipped fonts and theme like every week. I sometimes wish you could not change font or color theme at all.
reply
doodpants
1 hour ago
[-]
I can sympathize; I shudder to think of how many total hours of my life I've spent tweaking fonts in my text editors.

That said, these days I almost exclusively use Input Mono [0], specifically the "Narrow" variety. With an occasional sprinkling of either Iosevka Fixed or PragmataPro Mono.

0: https://input.djr.com/

reply
delta_p_delta_x
3 hours ago
[-]
This kind of breaks for me because I identify all the familiar fonts quite quickly—Consolas, Inconsolata, Iosevka, JetBrains Mono, Fira Mono/Code, Menlo, SF Mono, Courier...
reply
stephc_int13
3 hours ago
[-]
Got Jetbrains Mono. Not a surprise as I used this font for a long time and I still use it for my terminal font.

But I prefer (and use) PragmataPro (not free) and it is not part of the test, sadly.

reply
ranger_danger
2 hours ago
[-]
Fira Code for me.
reply
gkhartman
13 minutes ago
[-]
Same. Came down to Fira Code and PT Mono. I already use Fira Code, so I probably biased to what I'm used to. I do think that Fira Code is hard to beat when it comes to ambiguous characters.
reply
techwizrd
1 hour ago
[-]
I also got Fira Code, followed by Ubuntu Mono, Source Code Pro, and Oxygen Mono.
reply
Levitating
1 hour ago
[-]
I got Cuisine, I was trying to get Hack.
reply
genpfault
3 hours ago
[-]
Doesn't seem to serve rendered samples so you have to set "browser.display.use_document_fonts" to "1" to see anything useful.
reply
speedgoose
1 hour ago
[-]
I think it also requires internet access, so you have to enable internet.
reply
jeffbee
2 hours ago
[-]
Which is the default, and 99.9% of Firefox users, 99.99% of all users will not have this issue.
reply
yoyohello13
2 hours ago
[-]
Every time something like this comes up I always end up with JetBrains Mono.
reply
j45
34 minutes ago
[-]
This was a pleasant surprise to enjoy, I was surprised to discover a font I wasn’t aware of.

Seeing all the fonts listed here it would be great to be able to add user submissions into the mix.

reply
gnarlouse
54 minutes ago
[-]
I got Anonymous Pro
reply
hrimfaxi
2 hours ago
[-]
This is like an eye test for choosing a font, great idea!!
reply
naikrovek
2 hours ago
[-]
If only it showed fonts that I like.

I eventually had to buy one I liked, and non-free fonts won’t ever show up in sites like these.

(It’s called “Codelia” if curious.)

reply
fortyseven
45 minutes ago
[-]
It works -- by the end I was facing off against my two favorites. ;) I CAN'T CHOOSE.
reply
vova_hn2
2 hours ago
[-]
Is it weird that I look at most of the offered pairs and think "meh, both are ok, I guess", but do not feel any preference one way or the other?

Like, some fonts look to weird/unusual that I dislike. But most look just fine and I don't really care.

Am I weird? Do I lack taste?

reply
GuB-42
1 hour ago
[-]
It is all about the details:

- Ligatures or not

- *: in the middle (better for things like multiplication), or high (better for things like C pointers)

- Alignment of =, >, - some fonts align -, = and > to that "=>" and "->" look good, others will not, making it arguably look better in isolation, others will optimize for ligatures

- The "i" may look significantly different, some will prioritize consistency, others will prioritize making il1I look distinct. Same idea for 0/O

- Aspect ratio, do you want a wide font, making alignment, indentation, and special characters clearer, or a narrow font, allowing you to cram longer lines into a single screen.

These are compromises, and depending on your style and language, you may prefer one or the other.

reply
bigstrat2003
36 minutes ago
[-]
No, not weird at all. I can't even imagine caring about what font one uses for programming.
reply
varispeed
2 hours ago
[-]
Mine is Red Hat Mono, but really I don't like any of the presented fonts.
reply
wang_li
2 hours ago
[-]
Serifs so I and l look different, monospace so it's possible to use spaces for alignment, and a slash or dot in the zero. What else do I need?
reply
Izkata
1 hour ago
[-]
How do you feel about cursive? (Victor Mono on the site)
reply
ChrisArchitect
2 hours ago
[-]
Some previous discussion including a Show HN: from the dev:

2024 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41604781

2021 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29010443

reply
grigio
1 hour ago
[-]
ubuntu mono, fira code
reply
nomsters
3 hours ago
[-]
JetBrains Mono. Makes sense
reply
bensyverson
2 hours ago
[-]
Can we just talk about how good Source Code Pro is?
reply
jbverschoor
1 hour ago
[-]
Fira Code
reply
WhereIsTheTruth
2 hours ago
[-]
JetBrains Mono

That's the one i have been using for many years, look like i made the right choice

reply
cyanydeez
2 hours ago
[-]
I don't need this many rounds to determine it. There should be "neither" to limit the weird fonts that will never fly.
reply
0xdeadbeefbabe
2 hours ago
[-]
I'm tired of colors. I wonder if I hate them all or just haven't found the perfect one.
reply
Arn_Thor
3 hours ago
[-]
Roboto Mono, apparently
reply
askl
3 hours ago
[-]
Wow, some of these are looking atrocious. (Victor Mono, Syne Mono, Nova Mono)

What I'm missing is DejaVuSansMono which is what I'm using. The result of the test was Ubuntu Mono, which looks okay too.

reply
jeffbee
2 hours ago
[-]
It is sort of baffling that people make some of these hideous fonts, look at them, and decide to publish them regardless. A font where the lowercase i and l are indistinguishable? Okay...
reply
shagie
2 hours ago
[-]
I was amused that Dank Mono wasn't in the lineup (though there was one that had some of its aesthetics)

https://philpl.gumroad.com/l/dank-mono

The one use case I've seen for Dank Mono was presentations with an overhead projector at conferences. The cursive for italics can make some of the structure of the code more differentiated when viewing it at a distance.

reply