[HN Gopher] Comic Mono
___________________________________________________________________
Comic Mono
Author : lolinder
Score : 552 points
Date : 2023-06-13 16:01 UTC (7 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (dtinth.github.io)
(TXT) w3m dump (dtinth.github.io)
| takeda wrote:
| Feels like Comic Sans is the Javascript of fonts.
| baruchel wrote:
| I have used Apl385 during a long time as my daily monospace font.
| It shares some features with such font (probably why I don't use
| it any longer!) https://vfoley.xyz/lesser-known-coding-fonts/
| whalesalad wrote:
| not gonna lie this is awesome and i will take it for a spin today
| before passing judgement.
|
| screenshot: https://i.imgur.com/jVeZKgh.png
|
| theme:
| https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=Whalesal...
| adt2bt wrote:
| I feel like generative AI interfaces should use a font like this
| for code. It can give a subtle 'hmm maybe I should double check
| this' vibe.
| BugsJustFindMe wrote:
| The i, l, and f serifs feel extremely non-comic to me. It's not
| right if it's not sans. IMO https://www.dafont.com/pointfree.font
| is a better monospace comic font.
| stOneskull wrote:
| i like pointfree very much. thank you.
| mpsprd wrote:
| I used to hate Comic Sans until a primary school teacher
| explained to me it was used because the "a" is exactly the way
| they teach how to write it.
| seydor wrote:
| I like this
|
| I always liked how legible comic sans is. I propose we try it on
| HN for a week
| davidy123 wrote:
| And you think the reddit API protests are fierce.
| agilob wrote:
| All uppercase texts looks bad in a way I don't know how to
| explain. There isn't enough space between letters and look like
| uppercase letter are flowing above lowercase. Lowercase text I
| can just scan and without reading and understand what's
| happening, but uppercase letters in word "PERFORMANCE
| ENVIRONMENT" look like they're two long letters I need to
| visually investigate text.
|
| https://imgur.com/a/1IM2Vqn
|
| See the spacing between ME and ams. Lowercase letter look more
| goofy, asymetrical.
| awelxtr wrote:
| Comic Mono crashes my Eclipse on Linux Mint Cinnamon
| rafadc wrote:
| I've been using Comic Code for a while for coding and it is the
| best thing it ever happened to me professionally speaking.
|
| It teaches me not to take myself too seriously
| davikr wrote:
| Me too! Programming has never been as fun as it is nowadays.
| geon wrote:
| Exactly. Feels like a whiteboard.
|
| I've been using the normal Comic Sans for 3-4 years now. I
| don't mind the non-monospaced-ness.
| veeberz wrote:
| I love Comic Code! First font I actually paid for.
| ekam wrote:
| If you like spins on Comic Sans, you may also
| enjoy:https://comicneue.com/
| sweeter wrote:
| If you like this font, you might also like Maple Mono NF. Its on
| github as well, I find it really pleasing to look at and I use it
| in all of my editors.
| xyst wrote:
| Thanks. Going to use this in my YC deck
| Gnarl wrote:
| [flagged]
| 29athrowaway wrote:
| I used to make fun of these fonts until I learned they are more
| readable for people with dyslexia.
| constantcrying wrote:
| If you have dyslexia use a dyslexia font.
|
| Comic Sans is not a bad font, but people make fun of it because
| it is used where it shouldn't be. (I blame WordArt and its
| attitudes for most typography atrocities)
| roywiggins wrote:
| The evidence for dyslexia fonts is kinda bad.
|
| > Use of the OpenDyslexic font did not enhance text
| readability or reading speed. The study participants strongly
| preferred Verdana or Helvetica over the OpenDyslexic
| alternative.
|
| https://blog.dyslexia.com/good-fonts-for-dyslexia-an-
| experim...
| constantcrying wrote:
| Interesting. Is there evidence that Comic Sans works better
| then dedicated dyslexia fonts?
| roberthahn wrote:
| I found it more readable for coding even though I don't have
| dyslexia. Surprised me when I found that out.
| NelsonMinar wrote:
| Sadly this might not be true; most careful research on fonts
| have shown that font choices does not help people with
| dyslexia, even including fonts specifically designed for the
| purpose.
|
| https://www.boia.org/blog/do-dyslexia-fonts-improve-accessib...
|
| https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5629233/
| verse wrote:
| [flagged]
| globular-toast wrote:
| Why is this forked from the original? The changes seem like
| things that could have been submitted as pull requests. If the
| original author rejected them then, sure, make a fork. But at
| least submit it first.
| petesergeant wrote:
| I've been using the very similar Comic Code for several years,
| and it consistently sparks joy when I open my editor. Highly
| recommended. This looks marginally nicer and I'll give it a go
| jedberg wrote:
| I've kept my font in my messaging apps Comic Sans for years. It
| turns out it's super readable when you're trying to read quickly,
| due to all the letters looking so different.
|
| This font is nice, but it sort of "squares up" the letters to
| make them more uniform, which arguably makes it less readable
| compared to Comic Sans.
|
| It should be noted that Comic Sans is also the preferred font for
| many dyslexics because of how readable it is.
|
| People hate it because it's overused, but it is actually a very
| useful font.
| jbverschoor wrote:
| I actually like it a lot
| shrimp_emoji wrote:
| This is the title bar font I set for my windows on Linux.
| crazygringo wrote:
| I was curious why it seems so much nicer than Comic Sans (and
| many commenters here seem to agree).
|
| Many of the letterforms have been dramatically "straightened" --
| a Comic Sans "m" is kind of hideous, with the three vertical
| strokes intentionally all at different angles... whereas in this
| one they're all essentially vertical.
|
| Comic Sans is ugly because it's _terribly_ proportioned
| (intentionally) to mimic the way a child would write. But when
| you straighten everything and the letters necessarily fit into a
| grid... it 's just much, much nicer aesthetically.
|
| Just a gentle "handwriting mono" font, rather than the original
| which is (again, intentionally) horribly kerned and where half
| the letterforms feel like they're about to topple over from
| imbalance.
| brazzledazzle wrote:
| I absolutely (irrationally, I admit) despise comic sans from a
| purely personal aesthetic perspective but this does bug me less
| which is saying a lot.
| Kuraj wrote:
| You're gonna love Comic Neue: https://comicneue.com/
| polpo wrote:
| Reminds me of Apple's Chalkboard font, which basically fixes
| everything that's off putting about Comic Sans while still
| being casual and child-like:
| http://www.identifont.com/differences?first=Chalkboard&secon...
| behnamoh wrote:
| It's beautiful!
| nemetroid wrote:
| I think Comic Code stays more true to the aesthetics of Comic
| Sans.
|
| https://www.myfonts.com/collections/comic-code-font-tabular-...
| bityard wrote:
| > to mimic the way a child would write
|
| No, it was intended to mimic the style of comic book lettering,
| hence the name.
|
| Part of the reason Comic Sans is reviled is because not only is
| it a terrible font, but it is also a far cry from actual comic
| book lettering.
| crazygringo wrote:
| No it wasn't, see my cousin comment.
| nerdponx wrote:
| I thought Comic Sans was meant to mimic the text in a comic
| strip, not a child's handwriting.
| wodenokoto wrote:
| It is not modeled on children's handwriting but, as the name
| implies, letters found in speech bubbles in comic books.
| pessimizer wrote:
| Except speech bubbles in comic books look a lot better and
| more regular.
| CharlesW wrote:
| Also, "real" comic book fonts do exist:
| https://www.comicbookfonts.com/
| crazygringo wrote:
| If you look at the font, it's quite clearly extremely
| "irregular" in a way that children's handwriting is, and
| comic book speech bubbles very much _are not_ meant to be.
|
| Indeed, the creator used some comics as a starting point, but
| then tried to redraw the strokes with a mouse (!), and
| intentionally drew them wrong, not keeping them straight,
| etc.
|
| So the goal was _not_ to reproduce comic speech bubbles at
| all, but to create something instead "strange and
| childlike". You would never want to use it for actual comic
| book lettering.
|
| From an interview [1]:
|
| > _They wanted all kinds of fonts - a lot of them strange and
| childlike. One program was called Microsoft Bob, which was
| designed to make computers more accessible to children. I
| booted it up and out walked this cartoon dog, talking with a
| speech bubble in Times New Roman. Dogs don't talk in Times
| New Roman! Conceptually, it made no sense._
|
| > _So I had an idea to make a comic-style text and started
| looking at Watchmen and Dark Knight Returns, graphic novels
| where the hand lettering was like a typeface... Instead, I
| looked at various letters and tried to mimic them on screen.
| There were no sketches or studies - it was just me drawing
| with a mouse, deleting whatever was wrong._
|
| > _I didn't have to make straight lines, I didn't have to
| make things look right, and that's what I found fun. I was
| breaking the typography rules. My boss Robert Norton, whose
| mother Mary Norton wrote The Borrowers, said the "p" and "q"
| should mirror each other perfectly. I said: "No, it's
| supposed to be wrong!"_
|
| [1] https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/mar/28/how-
| we-...
| markandrewj wrote:
| It seems like this isn't very well known, but the design of
| Comic Sans is actually intended to help children with dyslexia.
| The creator of Comic Sans also talks about this in his
| lectures. Listening to him talk about the design of the
| typeface changed my perception of it.
|
| Ref: Vincent Connare: Comic Sans is the Best Font in the World
| https://youtu.be/xXdzBTeYZlE
|
| Ref: https://www.nothingcomicaboutdyslexia.com/
| tapland wrote:
| Was it intended to?
|
| I know it's useful for dyslexics but I've not seen anyone
| claim it was intentionally designed with that intent and I'm
| pretty sure that has been explained to be a happy coincidence
| in the past.
|
| Ref2 doesn't state that, and I can't do video right now.
|
| Edit: And neither does Ref1
| markandrewj wrote:
| Thank you for the correction. I thought I had read it was
| part of the initial design consideration at one point, but
| reading about it further again, I think the discovery that
| it helped dyslexic readers happened after the typeface was
| made public.
|
| It is still an interesting aspect of the typeface that
| doesn't get much attention though, although there are other
| typefaces that also try to help with dyslexia.
|
| If you are interested in design, I still recommend watching
| the talk when you have the time. It has been a while since
| I watched it, but the designer is well spoken.
| Phrodo_00 wrote:
| There's a font called OpenDyslexic[1] that was actually
| designed to do that
|
| [1] https://opendyslexic.org/
| michelb wrote:
| Some info about these fonts here
| https://www.edutopia.org/article/do-dyslexia-fonts-
| actually-...
|
| Fwiw my dyslexic friends feel no benefit from these
| fonts. Would love to hear other experiences.
| markandrewj wrote:
| It is a good question, I have read mixed reports about
| the effectiveness as well. Besides specific typefaces,
| there are also techniques like bionic reading.
|
| https://www.indwes.edu/adult-graduate/ng-
| blog/stories/what-i...
|
| https://bionic-reading.com/
|
| Sorry again, I thought I remembered the designer talking
| about this in the video I referenced. I should have
| watched it again before referencing it.
| Paul-Craft wrote:
| The story I've always heard (which is backed up by
| Wikipedia) is that Comic Sans was designed for the speech
| bubbles of characters in Microsoft Bob, to make them seem
| less "formal" and more relatable. The fact that the
| letterforms are "terribly proportioned," as u/crazygringo
| says, is what actually makes the letters easier for
| dyslexic people to distinguish.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comic_Sans#History
| anikom15 wrote:
| Comic Sans is actually quite legible for its class and well-
| hinted. It works better with antialiasing off. The main
| criticism is in its overuse.
| lucideer wrote:
| Another notable deviation that may affect the aesthetic is that
| it's been slightly seriffed (fIijl) for some reason.
| SCdF wrote:
| It's beautiful, like I really like it. Damn.
| cloin wrote:
| Am I supposed to hate this? Because I really really don't.
| throw2022110401 wrote:
| It's cool to not hate Comic Sans and it's brethren right now
| but as an old school hater I know that our time will come
| again.
|
| https://achewood.com/2007/07/05/title.html
| medstrom wrote:
| I like it too. Somehow more suitable for coding than Comic Sans
| ever was for text.
| coffeebeqn wrote:
| It's just a much more polished font in general. Looks really
| nice!
| moffkalast wrote:
| I have no strong feelings one way or the other.
| darknavi wrote:
| All I know is my gut says "Maybe".
| kahnclusions wrote:
| [flagged]
| ComputerGuru wrote:
| Crazy how much bigger a lowercase l is than a lowercase m in
| order to fit into a single cell.
| qbasic_forever wrote:
| Fantasque Sans Mono is similar in spirit and works great for
| coding too IMHO: https://github.com/belluzj/fantasque-sans/ Don't
| knock it until you try it, it really looks nice for clean
| languages without a lot of symbols, operators or noise.
| whiskeytuesday wrote:
| I installed it months ago as a joke and have been using it ever
| since. Curly K master race.
| spookie wrote:
| I've been using it ever since I dropped mononoki. So, about 3
| years ago. Looks great, and quite readable for me. More so than
| OP's.
|
| I think that it's due to the really tall x-height, and the fact
| that letters sray 'in-line'. OP's 's' in particular goes
| terribly below baseline. Not sure if using the proper term
| here.
| lofatdairy wrote:
| Man I unironically love Fantasque Sans Mono (using it for
| nearly 5 years now) and I'm so glad someone else also brought
| this one up. Idk, I feel like Comic Sans hate was always a bit
| much, even ironic hate, and I'm just glad to see another
| typeface project inspired by it.
| Semaphor wrote:
| That actually looks more _normal_ than Cascadia Code [0] to me.
| I'd say CC sits between Fantasque and Comic Mono in
| _playfulness_
|
| [0]: https://github.com/microsoft/cascadia-code
| argulane wrote:
| I also quite like Fantasque Sans Mono. Few years ago they even
| added programming ligatures support. Some like them but I
| don't, so I keep using the previous 1.7.2 version of the font
| that does not contain ligatures (not all programs allow
| disabling ligatures).
| kps wrote:
| If you're up for building it yourself, delete
| `update_features(fnt)` from `Scripts/fontbuilder.py`:
| https://github.com/belluzj/fantasque-
| sans/blob/996150820b98a...
| nerdponx wrote:
| I used this one for a long time, then switched to the Recursive
| variable font. It also comes with several non-variable
| alternatives (for editors that don't support variable which is
| most of them) called "Rec Mono". I particularly enjoyed Rec
| Mono Duotone.
| ComputerGuru wrote:
| The lowercase symbols are nice but ye god the uppercase Y and E
| are basically unchanged from Comic Sans MS and give me PTSD.
| ksaj wrote:
| It looks cool, but one problem at least on my laptop screen
| when looking at the small rendering, is that the l and i in the
| word multi look too similar. I have to lean in to differentiate
| them. It looks like multl to me.
|
| For the word split, it is easier to tell since they are side-b
| by-each, but still weird to look at without zooming in.
|
| It's easy enough when either rendered as a larger font size, or
| if you lean in. But when small, those two letters are
| difficult.
| otterpro wrote:
| Fantasque Sans Mono is my favorite as well, and is the only
| font I use for coding (in Vim, VScode, Ryder, etc...). The
| slight hint of style makes it so easy to read, and not boring
| (unlike other monospace fonts). It's free and good alternative
| to Comic Code, which is not free. I don't like the loop on k,
| so I use the version with non-looped k. Before it, I was on
| Nanum Gothic, which had the ideal spacing/size for editor.
| nomel wrote:
| For me, it doesn't seem to matter which font I use, as long as
| I keep using it for an extended period of time, then it become
| the "easy to read" font. Some with line spacing, indentation,
| etc. Then, anything else looks terrible.
|
| I wonder how much of font design is driven by each authors
| "local indentation in the font space". What's the push to move
| that indentation?
| moonchrome wrote:
| I have the opposite reaction - I switch fonts every now and
| then because using a different font makes it more fun/feels
| fresh. Likewise for color schemes.
| dsr_ wrote:
| Other than some of the funky capital letters, it's really not
| bad.
| throwaway106382 wrote:
| I think this is a suprisingly pleasant font, but PragmataPro is
| probably one of the best purchases I've ever made.
| regulation_d wrote:
| Same. At first, I thought PragmataPro was a little narrow, but
| now that I grown accustomed to it, everything else feels
| squatty or improperly kerned.
| mhandley wrote:
| Actually looks quite nice, but when I try it for coding I find it
| a bit too dense, compared to Hack [0] which gets it just about
| right for me.
|
| [0] https://sourcefoundry.org/hack/
| hk1337 wrote:
| No ligatures yet?
|
| EDIT:
|
| Trying it out now, it's actually a lot nicer than I initially
| thought. I had to bump the text size up which was already larger
| than 14.
| its-summertime wrote:
| Mainly more referring to https://github.com/shannpersand/comic-
| shanns, but the capital forms seem to very quickly leave a blocky
| feel, e.g. IT visually combining, NE visually combining. I do
| wonder if it would be possible to systematically adjust the
| kerning, la using openCV or similar to detect such things.
| rodolphoarruda wrote:
| Once I turned 45 y.o. I began to have trouble reading anything
| non serif and enjoy serif fonts. My eBook reader is set up with
| Courier and it's a real joy for me.
|
| I do like this font Comic mono, though. A nice attempt to make a
| mono type more organic and less machine made.
| dang wrote:
| Related:
|
| _Comic Mono - a legible monospace font_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27488524 - June 2021 (51
| comments)
|
| _Comic Mono_ - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25520510 -
| Dec 2020 (216 comments)
| throwkeys wrote:
| No matter what the size is or the editor (Notepad/Sublime) the
| top of characters - [], {} and () seems to be cut off on Windows
| 11. Is it same for others?
| cbsmith wrote:
| "the very typeface you've been trained to recognize since
| childhood"
|
| Man, I feel old.
| king_magic wrote:
| I don't hate it. It's actually really easy on the eyes.
| slmjkdbtl wrote:
| I use APL386 as my monospace font, has some comic vibe but looks
| better imo.
|
| https://abrudz.github.io/APL386/
| [deleted]
| arek_nawo wrote:
| It looks nice. In general I have nothing against "Comic-family"
| fonts. They look fun and unique. This certainly changes depending
| on how much you use them (e.g. an entire page in Comic Sans is...
| just comical.
|
| Applying the same logic to this font, I feel like it would look
| good in stylized code snippets on a website, but I wouldn't use
| it in my code editor.
| mushufasa wrote:
| I also really like Monaco! Classic in the same vein at least IMO
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monaco_(typeface)
| foxandmouse wrote:
| If you like that, a variant that I enjoy is Monolisa:
| https://www.monolisa.dev
|
| I think it sits between the submitted font and Monaco in terms
| of "seriousness".
| alanh wrote:
| Sorry, but in what sense are they in the same vein?
| jnwatson wrote:
| I first coded using Monaco some 38 years ago. Time flies.
| riffraff wrote:
| I love monaco and used it for years as my code font. I wish we
| had Chalkboard[1] mono tho!
|
| [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalkboard_(typeface)
| disruptiveink wrote:
| My terminal always has to be Monaco 10. Without antialias on
| non-HiDPI displays.
| Semaphor wrote:
| 217 comments end of 2020:
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25520510
|
| And I just installed selected this in Rider, I'll see how I feel
| about it tomorrow while working. It doesn't look bad, but I think
| I prefer Cascadia Code which also has a bit of playfulness.
| petschge wrote:
| Is there a nice screenshot that compares commonly confused glyphs
| like 1, I, l or O, 0, O?
| JohnDeHope wrote:
| I legit use this font for work. It's a nice mono font.
| shrikant wrote:
| I really like, but now I'm wondering how much of this is because
| of the beautiful colour palette on the blog. Does anyone know
| what colour scheme is being used?
| roughly wrote:
| I wonder if I can enable this on a per-project basis.
|
| Or per function, depending on test coverage & code quality...
| bee_rider wrote:
| I've never seen a silly idea that I wanted more.
|
| Based on a skim of the write-up, it seems like the author
| passed a respin of comic sans through a couple scripts, maybe
| you could start from where they started and try to locate a
| nice continuous "shittyness" knob to tune.
| duskwuff wrote:
| A variable font, but with a "comedy" axis that runs from
| DejaVu Sans to Comic Sans.
| catears wrote:
| I've been using this as my standard font for maybe 1-2 years now
| (no, I am not joking). While I don't think that the font is any
| more legible than other fonts, the quirkiness and the character
| of the font makes it rather enjoyable to look at.
|
| If legibility is an issue then I would seriously recommend
| increasing the font size, I think that will do much more than
| choice of "most optimal" font. And if increased font size makes
| your code "harder to read", consider that someone else might be
| unable to use a smaller font and will be forced to read code with
| a larger font size.
| film42 wrote:
| Daily driver for me as well, but only for terminal. People
| laugh sometimes while pair programming, but usually by the end
| they begin to really like it. Can't use anything else at this
| point.
| samwillis wrote:
| I'm so confused, I really REALY want to hate it, but think I love
| it...
|
| I'm going to have to set it as my editor font and see how it
| goes.
| adastra22 wrote:
| How does this differ from Comic Code, which I use as my main code
| editor font?
| falcor84 wrote:
| You mean [0]? If so, the big difference I see is that this one
| is free.
|
| [0] https://tosche.net/fonts/comic-code
| adastra22 wrote:
| That's the one, and fair enough.
| paxys wrote:
| Two tools that do the same thing are allowed to exist
| simultaneously.
| medstrom wrote:
| Sure, but she just asked how it differs. I didn't read the
| question as value-loaded.
| lucideer wrote:
| Apart from being free, the differences seem to be:
|
| - Comic Code is more heavily serifed - Comic Mono is "semi-
| serif" (a balanced blend between serif mono fonts & the sans-
| serif Comic Sans). Not sure why they both didn't go full sans-
| serif: I generally prefer serif code fonts but of these two I
| prefer the less seriffed variation, and Comic Sans literally
| has Sans in the name.
|
| - Comic Code is more legible (for me) - the widths & kerning
| seem to leave clearer letter separation with equivalent
| character spacing.
|
| - Comic Mono has nicer kerning (to my eye) - while legibility
| is a problem at small font-sizes, at larger font-sizes Comic
| Mono is more pleasing to read.
| stronglikedan wrote:
| Maybe my eyes are just too old, but the kerning was killing
| them.
| WorldMaker wrote:
| Just based on their READMEs it looks like:
|
| - Comic Mono was built by a Python script by a non-designer as
| open source-ish
|
| - Comic Code was built by a font designer with commercial
| intent
|
| - Comic Code includes more font variants (italics, ligatures)
| lacy_tinpot wrote:
| honestly looks super comfy
| crickey wrote:
| [flagged]
| raydiatian wrote:
| This belongs in a museum dedicated to crazy people
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(page generated 2023-06-13 23:01 UTC)