[HN Gopher] Berkeley Mono Typeface
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Berkeley Mono Typeface
Author : gjvc
Score : 204 points
Date : 2023-11-18 18:32 UTC (4 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (berkeleygraphics.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (berkeleygraphics.com)
| deely3 wrote:
| Looks interesting. Developer license: $75. No free version.
| kstrauser wrote:
| I bought it. I love it. I wonder when the next version will come
| out.
| jdthedisciple wrote:
| I recently discovered Monaspace [0] and was fairly impressed by
| its texture healing feature, besides generally looking nice. And
| it's free.
|
| [0] https://monaspace.githubnext.com/
| warent wrote:
| This is awesome, I'll try it out when I get back to the office.
| Very nice find
| n_ary wrote:
| This is actually very legible and pleasing to eye. I was mostly
| using JetBrains Mono until I found Monaspace randomly and it is
| currently now default.
|
| Can highly recommend, also it is free and has several
| styles(x5).
| logbiscuitswave wrote:
| Every so often I go on a "font bender" and start searching for
| my "next great coding font". I've been using Hack
| (https://sourcefoundry.org/hack/) for several years, but after
| looking at this I might need to give it a try. It looks really
| nice and the price is right. The font in the OP looks great
| too, but I can't bring myself to pay for it. Not when there's
| so many great alternatives out there at no cost.
| airstrike wrote:
| I was the same until I started using Fira Code and don't
| think I'll ever go back to anything else. the ligatures are
| worth it
|
| https://github.com/tonsky/FiraCode
| jdthedisciple wrote:
| I must say it does look awesome.
|
| Although I'm personally not a fan of ligatures, I feel they
| may increase mental burden at times;
|
| for example having to look closely if it's = vs == or == vs
| === among other examples.
| logbiscuitswave wrote:
| +100 I really dislike ligatures. They are one of those
| things that seem great in theory but I find them to be a
| real distraction. This is why I never got into the
| JetBrains fonts -- there was no ligature-free option.
| (Maybe there is now, but I haven't felt motivated to try
| it again.)
| flobosg wrote:
| > Maybe there is now
|
| You're right! Check out the NL (no ligature) version: htt
| ps://github.com/JetBrains/JetBrainsMono/tree/master/fonts
| ...
| dkjaudyeqooe wrote:
| You don't have to use them, even if they're in the font,
| just turn them off in your reditor.
|
| Conversely I can turn them on for code I didn't write.
|
| There is no downside to ligatures.
| bayindirh wrote:
| Hack is very underrated and awesome. Fira Code is nice, so
| is Adobe Source Code Pro [0], and Iosevka [1]. Yet,
| Berkeley is truly at its own level.
|
| [0]: https://github.com/adobe-fonts/source-code-pro
|
| [1]: https://github.com/be5invis/Iosevka
| lioeters wrote:
| Source Code Pro is damn near perfect for me, I've been
| using it for some years. Occasionally I get an itch to
| explore other fonts, but I always come back to this one,
| all its refined details just feel good to my eyes.
| mananaysiempre wrote:
| One class of alternatives you could also consider is narrow
| fonts like PragmataPro[1] (commercial) or Iosevka[2] (gratis,
| FOSS). Being able to fit more stuff onto the screen side-by-
| side is what enabled me to get as much into tmux as I have.
|
| [1] https://www.fsd.it/shop/fonts/pragmatapro/
|
| [2] https://typeof.net/Iosevka/
| leshenka wrote:
| regular fonts seem wide after several years of me using
| iosevka
| ivanjermakov wrote:
| Same. I love experimenting with my coding font and for the
| past year or so I was using Hack.
|
| I wasn't able to find anything better yet after trying a lot
| of fonts: Fira, JetBrains Mono, Iosevka, Monaspace, Ubuntu
| Mono, and others.
|
| Or perhaps I'm too familiar with Hack now and everything else
| now looks weird..
| Cockbrand wrote:
| Monaspace has been on the HN frontpage a few days ago:
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38210574
| gala8y wrote:
| As for free, monospaced fonts, there is also FiraCode.
|
| Fira Code: free monospaced font with programming ligatures
|
| https://github.com/tonsky/FiraCode
|
| EDIT: @airstrike beat me to it. Anyway, that's my favorite.
| INGSOCIALITE wrote:
| i bought and have been using Berkeley Mono exclusively. it's well
| worth the cost
| fsckboy wrote:
| super annoying web design from a graphic design company to show a
| typeface that purports its goal is to "get out of the way" so you
| can be productive, why not show some calm examples of text as in
| a terminal at a normal typesize? I had to zoom out to 60% just to
| tame it, and yet there was still blinking all over the place and
| nothing that approximated anything other than a phone screen.
|
| does something about this typeface set it apart in a useful way
| from the zillion other free or default monospaced options? If
| anything it seemed a little awkward with the flourishes they
| added toward making it look fauxCR-able. (an artistic flourish I
| like as "zany graphic fun" but is it helpful for extended use?)
|
| for the people who love it, I've no problem with enjoying
| flourishes, but it's calling itself serious. I'm serious and it's
| not taking me seriously.
| StevePerkins wrote:
| $75 license. I assume they want people to be wow'ed by the
| unrealistic zoom shots, and pay money before realizing that
| it's little different from JetBrains Mono or Roboto Mono in a
| real-world editor or terminal.
| bayindirh wrote:
| > that it's little different from JetBrains Mono or Roboto
| Mono in a real-world editor or terminal.
|
| On the contrary.
| jen729w wrote:
| Downvote me for your life here, I don't care.
|
| This sort of comment is why I have a love/hate relationship
| with HN. Love, because yesterday I learned some amazing stuff
| that I told my partner about in bed.
|
| Hate, because of the assumptions that so many people are so
| quick to jump to. You know _nothing_ about this guy's
| motivations. (His name's Neil. I've spoken to him. He seems
| like a really solid dude. He probably has thicker skin than
| me.)
|
| So you come in here and you imply that this thing is
| essentially a scam to rob you of $75. You imply that _Neil_
| is a scammer, trying to rob you of $75.
|
| It's really shitty and I wish people wouldn't do it.
|
| Edit: I'm not saying "don't criticise the site". If you don't
| like the site, say so. But don't criticise the _motivations_
| about which you know literally nothing.
| vitaflo wrote:
| Yup, lots of people here saying $75 is too much while they
| make multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars per year,
| never once stopping to consider how much effort a product
| like this takes. The irony is palpable.
| gjvc wrote:
| Very much agree. What's wrong with computer people that
| they won't spend money on tools?! Especially since they are
| made by people in their own industry. Machinists (aka
| metalworkers) wouldn't sneer at other machinists and refuse
| to purchase their tools because someone else in their own
| industry dared to charge someone money for it.
|
| But the very same people will happily work for an
| advertising company under the guise of being a programmer
| and take a wage and bonus. Right on.
| kstrauser wrote:
| I agree with you on the general principle. That said,
| software is kind of an odd duck in that huge amounts of
| valuable code are just given away for free to whomever
| wants it. How much would you pay for a shell? A better ls
| command? A mailserver? All of those require considerable
| effort to create, and yet people have made wonderful
| implementations of each of those and said here ya go,
| have it, enjoy!
|
| I can understand the skepticism against a paid font.
| There are some pretty grand ones available for free to
| anyone who'd like to use them. In this case, it was worth
| the premium _to me_ to pay anyway. I don 't think
| someone's automatically a cheapskate for thinking I'm
| nuts to buy a license.
| neilpanchal wrote:
| Fair criticism about samples, launching new update and it'll
| have better samples. Also, you're welcome to download the trial
| --best way to see how it looks in your specific setup.
|
| I don't agree with your take on flourishes (in better terms,
| artistry). _Every_ typeface has it. The process of designing a
| typeface is full of subjectivity and artistry.
| Avshalom wrote:
| Oh if you're here: Any plans on covering APL/Miscellaneous
| Technical?
| neilpanchal wrote:
| Woahhh, I've never played around with APL before. Such an
| interesting language: https://tryapl.org/
|
| I think most of the glyphs are straightforward, the ones
| that would take time are the greek symbols. Unable to
| commit at this time, we're already behind with Berkeley v2
| release by 6 months! :-(
| janfoeh wrote:
| Neil,
|
| Berkeley Mono is plain gorgeous. I bought it after five
| minutes of looking at the trial. Everything made so much
| sense when I saw the inspirations you listed - Eurostile,
| OCR-B and DIN 1451 all have a special place in my heart.
|
| But what's more, your site in its entirety is a work of art,
| in form and function. So many details, from the one-click
| newsletter signup when logged in to the plain-English license
| intros. It makes me want to build a site for myself again,
| something I haven't done in over a decade.
|
| To my own surprise I've even signed up for the newsletter,
| something I haven't done anywhere for even longer.
|
| Needlessly to say, I am a fan.
| neilpanchal wrote:
| Thank you! Website is going to get doubly refined soon. I'd
| like to develop a UI framework one day, but one that never
| ever changes in its core design. It just gets refined over
| time. I must say, it's a real pleasure to design websites.
| Not just frontend, but database, all the Django stuff,
| domain models, I love the whole thing.
|
| Btw, I agree with OP about good samples. It also bothers me
| a little bit when I see huge zoomed in shots of typefaces:
| Good for grabbing attention, but bad functionally unless
| it's a display typeface specifically for billboard/headline
| use. So I will go to town with samples in 12 point size. We
| have a few but clearly not enough.
| Amorymeltzer wrote:
| The trial (license valid for 7 days) is "Limited to ASCII-128
| character set" but also says:
|
| >Swapped: '/' and '\', '*' and '#'
|
| Is that latter a common sort of thing in this scenario? I get the
| idea--certainly makes coding/terminal/markdown annoying--but I
| don't think I've seen that done elsewhere.
| bayindirh wrote:
| I have seen a couple of trial fonts changed crucial 1-2
| characters with the logo of the foundry. This is not very rare
| practice.
| tedunangst wrote:
| Confusing presentation of the multiple 0 in the same sample box.
| behnamoh wrote:
| Fira Code and Caskaydia are my favorites.
| arendtio wrote:
| I like and use Fira Code too and even though Berkley might be
| an alternative, the price is too high just to have an
| alternative to Fira Code (IMHO).
| mappu wrote:
| Is this the recommendations sub-thread? Inconsolata is the best
| i've used.
| ChrisArchitect wrote:
| Anything new here?
|
| Bunch of discussion last year on a Show HN:
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30557557
|
| The ligatures were released earlier this year:
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34583520
| naet wrote:
| I like the font and was thinking about putting it on my blog, but
| $75 seems like a lot when there are other pretty good options.
| Maybe I'll test the free version and see if I love it..
| jen729w wrote:
| It's a lot compared to free, but it's a steal compared to most
| fonts.
|
| Support Neil, he's a good chap. I can't wait for Houston!
| bayindirh wrote:
| Same here. I semi routinely check the website for any
| updates, but alas.
|
| I'm sure it's cooking and will be done when it's done, but
| the teaser really makes me excited.
| oktwtf wrote:
| Berkeley Mono is my favourite! It's the crossed seven that
| matches my handwritten style which I really appreciate. Not very
| common in other monospace fonts I've tried.
|
| I really enjoy this font for development and writing
| documentation. I carry it around for everything. Default
| monospace across the board: Terminal, IDE, Notes; sometimes I go
| buck-wild and monospace the entire Desktop-Environment to match.
| parentheses wrote:
| I always felt a bit like a weirdo writing 7 that way - no one I
| know writes it that way. Glad to find there are other folks
| like me.
| neilpanchal wrote:
| I also write Z and z with a stroke. And then someone on
| Twitter suggested we should add it as an option. I don't know
| why I didn't think of it despite of writing it that way! It's
| coming.
| numeri wrote:
| I bought it - or rather, asked for it as a gift from my wife -
| and it was well worth it. It brings me just a tiny bit of joy
| every time I see one of the beautiful ligatures in my terminal,
| and I was also just happy to support the creator. It takes effort
| to make a well-formed font, and I am thankful that there are
| people willing to devote time to it.
| bitwize wrote:
| Looks like OCR-B and Letter Gothic had a baby. There are better
| fonts for coding.
| farslan wrote:
| I'm a huge fan of this typeface. Initially, I was skeptic about
| paying, but I spent hours every single day on the screen, and
| after using the trial for a few days, I was sold. It's extremely
| good designed, the numbers are crisp, and everything is well-
| balanced and thought out. It's worth every single cent.
| kstrauser wrote:
| That's the logic that nudged me to buy it. I have a nice chair.
| I have a nice keyboard. I have a nice mouse. I have nice
| monitors. All of those cost more than the one-time license for
| something I stare at for hours a day. I've spent all that money
| to make my body comfortable. Why not do the same for my eyes?
|
| A year later, I still love the way code looks on my screen. I
| feel like it's one of the better investments I've made.
| knlb2022 wrote:
| This was the first time I bought a font, and -- surprisingly -- I
| haven't regretted it at all. Every time I look at my terminal
| there's always a little bit of happiness at how elegant the font
| looks.
| bayindirh wrote:
| I have bought it on sight, and never regretted a second after
| installing it. It's readable, easy on the eyes, and really brings
| the character of "the golden era of computing" to your
| environment. As a person who have started with computers
| relatively early, this font makes me feel at home.
|
| I use it on my terminals, text editors, IDE, and browser, and
| it's both unobtrusive and delightful, at the same time. If you're
| into dark themes, pair with Gruvbox Dark. You won't regret it.
|
| It's doesn't follow the trend, but puts its own rules on the
| table, and it shows.
|
| I can't recommend this enough.
| oktwtf wrote:
| As someone who spent a lot of time sorting, collecting, and
| selecting typefaces in a print shop, as soon as I saw the
| details in Berekeley Mono it was a similar experience. (Take my
| money) It's homey while having the appropriate modernity for
| legibility.
|
| I prefer the version with ligatures disabled, but it's nice to
| see them available.
|
| I already expect Neil will earn a purchase from me for Houston
| Mono when it's available. I have a terminal based "game"
| experience I've been toying with and waiting to use it for.
|
| Second your Gruvbox comment, although I recently decided to
| take TokyoNight for a spin, I'll loop back eventually,
| probably!
| _andrei_ wrote:
| Same, I bought Monolisa before discovering Berkeley Mono, and
| then I was really angry for how much more I paid for a worse
| font.
| m3kw9 wrote:
| This looks like a joke: " DO NOT OPERATE ON CRITICAL CODE WITH
| THE TRIAL FONT. WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR DAMAGES TO YOUR
| MAINFRAME SYSTEM OR OTHERWISE."
| yaglo wrote:
| Because they swapped some characters like \ to /, if I remember
| correctly.
| aquir wrote:
| I have paid for this and I am using it in the Terminal, in my IDE
| and even on my CV! It is a great font and I highly recommend it.
| whiddershins wrote:
| My first impression is the kerning/letter spacing feels off. Am I
| the only one?
|
| Edit: for example the space between the 'm' and the 'a' in
| 'machine' seems very big.
| m3kw9 wrote:
| The font says trial lol, what is there a pop up saying the 7 days
| is over? lol gtfoh
| omnimus wrote:
| It doesnt include all characters. Pretty standard practice for
| font trials.
| chrisandchris wrote:
| > Swapped: '/' and '\', '*' and '#'
| m3kw9 wrote:
| Check the difference between Sf mono and this, not worth 75$ usd
| radikalerludwig wrote:
| No hungarian language support, meh
| dutchCourage wrote:
| It's the nicest monospace font I've seen in a while, and I'd love
| to try it out, but $75 is a rather hefty price for development
| use. I don't mean to diminish the work that's been done, but
| more... I wonder if you could sell twice as much by cutting the
| price in half.
|
| $75 prices out quite a lot of people.
| jorams wrote:
| For a paid font $75 for an unlimited lifetime license is not at
| all expensive. I suspect the difficulty isn't so much getting
| people to pay $75 for a font, but getting people to pay for a
| font in the first place. The font market is essentially split
| between free fonts and expensive fonts. The people willing to
| pay for fonts are not particularly price sensitive, because if
| they were they would just be using a free font.
| jug wrote:
| These typefaces that give the illusion of not being monospace are
| fun! And this one was a good example of those. Very easy on the
| eye and even with a spark of timeless retro computing. They
| manage get a lot into a single typeface here.
| miggol wrote:
| On the serif side of things there's Go mono, which I like a lot
| and also doesn't feel monospaced. To me it makes code look
| friendly, like the pages of a book.
| solardev wrote:
| IMO this is pretty hard to read. And why are there two different
| glyphs for the number 0?
|
| Jetbrains Mono, which is also FOSS, seems nicer:
| https://www.jetbrains.com/lp/mono/
| nickpeterson wrote:
| When you download you get pick what zero or 7 you want.
| rckt wrote:
| No Cyrillic languages. It shows only few ligatures for
| JavaScript. And with this in mind it costs $75 when there are
| plenty free alternatives. Who's the target audience here?
| dimal wrote:
| Me, apparently. I think it looks gorgeous. I don't speak any
| languages that are written in Cyrillic and I don't like
| ligatures in code. But I want that 1970s Unix feeling...
| bayindirh wrote:
| Me. I'm under one of the supported languages, do not write
| JavaScript (and while all the languages I use has ligatures, I
| don't use them), spend 10 hours in front of a
| terminal/editor/IDE, and love computing at 70s, plus love the
| 70s aesthetics.
|
| If you think $75 is expensive is for a functional piece of art,
| look at the license of Operator Mono.
| ivanjermakov wrote:
| I found it very odd listing a bunch of languages and not
| providing support for Cyrillic family...
| dkjaudyeqooe wrote:
| It even lists Serbian.
| broodbucket wrote:
| "You wouldn't steal a font"
| tap-snap-or-nap wrote:
| There are so many good and free ones that I won't bother. I use
| SF Pro and Mono but I get bored and change to something else
| every year or two.
|
| https://developer.apple.com/fonts/
| worewood wrote:
| Finally a good programming font. There's always a catch, 0 vs O,
| l vs. | vs I, ( too similar to [ (looking at you B612), but this,
| this one seems to cover all the bases. Sad about the pricing. For
| the developed world it's Ok, but spending >25% of a minimum wage
| on a font is too much for me.
|
| A good alternative to me is Spline Sans Mono. I don't like its
| curved "l", though.
| muhammadusman wrote:
| I've been using this font for almost 2 years now and I love how
| unique and interesting it still looks
| fortran77 wrote:
| I've been using a 3270 typeface, but I like this better! It's
| like what the 3270 face would look like if it had higher
| resolution available.
| notahat wrote:
| Has anyone successfully turned this into a nerd font? I'd love to
| know it works before handing over my $75.
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(page generated 2023-11-18 23:01 UTC)