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CodingFont: A game to help you pick a coding font

Going through this, I was introduced to <= being converted to a ligature which immediately ruled it as a nope for me. No monkey business with the characters of my code thank you very much.
by dylan6041774900522
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 ^^

by torgeros1774897515
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.

by sedatk1774895531
My coding font is comic-shanns-mono, here's how it looks: https://github.com/jesusmgg/comic-shanns-mono?tab=readme-ov-...
by sodimel1774887065
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.
by KronisLV1774889743
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.

by delecti1774894733
Fun. Interestingly the one that "won" for me isn't the one I normally use, which was one of the candidates, but I have used it a lot in the past.
by michaelcampbell1774900295
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!
by akarlsten1774893629
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.

by JasonSage1774886416
Oh this is really cool, I did it and I landed on the font I've been using for years now: "Fira Code".
by ghosty1411774900083
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
by aquir1774887242
If you prefer proportional fonts, here's one that pads a 1/3 of a space before uppercase letters, so it makes camelCase more legible.

https://github.com/ericfortis/verdanacamel

by efortis1774899177
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).
by mosburger1774891582
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.
by tmtvl1774898378
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.

by regus1774887168
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...

by coldcity_again1774893819
I'd love to see a page which tracked stats for what the majority of users were picking
by keithxm231774888026
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.
by ale1774888263
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
by lemontheme1774897082
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.

by deepriverfish1774891677
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.

by chungy1774886634
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
by thetwentyone1774894927
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.
by gkhartman1774897791
IBM Plex Mono -- I guess no one ever got fired for choosing IBM?
by timeinput1774888354
Well, Atkinson Hyperlegible Mono ... - thank you!!!
by BruceEel1774889881
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.

by 0x4571774891509
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..
by oneneptune1774895327
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).
by lordgrenville1774896784
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!

by stared1774894554
I already use Inconsolata but had customized it to a point where I didn't recognize it here. It won anyway. Validation!
by starkparker1774892895
Source Code Pro was my winner in this test. I use Iosevka on a regular base
by Surac1774888514
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 !

by davidpfarrell1774894155
Thanks! A lot of fun!

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

by vindex101774896229
Ubuntu Mono. I have been using JetBrains Mono for last 2 years and surprisingly I rejected it in a second iteration.
by nikitadotla1774888872
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.
by embedding-shape1774886361
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

by abound1774887130
I was pleased to find that I chose the font I actually use.
by dmd1774895470
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.
by croemer1774888609
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...
by delta_p_delta_x1774887204
please add TokyoNight and its variants. I can't imagine using any other theme!
by airstrike1774896828
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.

by stephc_int131774887079
Did the whole thing. I got IBM Plex. Actually looks great
by diehunde1774894618
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.
by phplovesong1774889546
Doesn't seem to serve rendered samples so you have to set "browser.display.use_document_fonts" to "1" to see anything useful.
by genpfault1774886675
Fira Code for me.
by ranger_danger1774888007
Every time something like this comes up I always end up with JetBrains Mono.
by yoyohello131774890781
Roboto Mono for the win.
by krunck1774896133
I got Cuisine, I was trying to get Hack.
by Levitating1774893823
This is like an eye test for choosing a font, great idea!!
by hrimfaxi1774890696
I got Anonymous Pro
by gnarlouse1774895203
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?

by vova_hn21774890178
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.

by j451774896395
by 1774889036
It works -- by the end I was facing off against my two favorites. ;) I CAN'T CHOOSE.
by fortyseven1774895731
Mine is Red Hat Mono, but really I don't like any of the presented fonts.
by varispeed1774890537
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?
by wang_li1774889504
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

by ChrisArchitect1774889442
JetBrains Mono. Makes sense
by nomsters1774887515
Can we just talk about how good Source Code Pro is?
by bensyverson1774888671
ubuntu mono, fira code
by grigio1774893861
Fira Code
by jbverschoor1774891558
JetBrains Mono

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

by WhereIsTheTruth1774890421
I don't need this many rounds to determine it. There should be "neither" to limit the weird fonts that will never fly.
by cyanydeez1774890334
I'm tired of colors. I wonder if I hate them all or just haven't found the perfect one.
by 0xdeadbeefbabe1774890244
Roboto Mono, apparently
by Arn_Thor1774887340
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.

by askl1774886829
[dead]
by throwaway6137461774894217
[dead]
by wendy77561774887434
[flagged]
by i18nagentai1774897484