[HN Gopher] SN Pro Typeface
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SN Pro Typeface
Author : davidbarker
Score : 125 points
Date : 2024-02-22 12:01 UTC (11 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (supernotes.app)
(TXT) w3m dump (supernotes.app)
| latexr wrote:
| > We've carefully re-designed each character, improving support
| for Markdown and ligatures.
|
| What does it mean for a font to "improve support for markdown"?
| Later on:
|
| > we included [...] improved symbols for use within Markdown
|
| Again, what does this mean _specifically_? Never have I had an
| issue with a font's brackets or asterisks while writing markdown.
| Considering the page's length, it would be useful if you'd taken
| a section to _show_ what makes SN Pro better than other fonts for
| this use case.
| SigmundurM wrote:
| It does explain it though?
|
| > To wrap up, we included arrows, circular numbers, and
| improved symbols for use within Markdown - the commonly used
| text markup language that Supernotes is built around.
|
| and then it has an image of the 'Markdown' marks and Symbol
| additions
| latexr wrote:
| And yet those symbols aren't relevant _for markdown_. The
| octothorp and asterisk, sure, and _maybe_ the checkmark if we
| stretch its use to checklists (which may make them less
| clear), but they're not different enough from other fonts to
| be worthy of note.
| anomaloustho wrote:
| You've pointed out a couple times that _check_ marks are
| not clear for _check_ boxes. This statement feels a bit off
| in the sense that it's like saying you shouldn't put
| "cookies" in a "cookie jar" or any other _item_ inside of a
| container named for _item_ - could you elaborate on why
| checkmarks are not intuitive when placed inside of
| checkboxes?
| alberth wrote:
| > " To wrap up, we included arrows, circular numbers, and
| improved symbols for use within Markdown - the commonly used
| text markup language that Supernotes is built around."
|
| ---
|
| It's the ligatures they created. (1) through
| (9) Checkmark --->
|
| Etc
| latexr wrote:
| How are arrows and circular numbers _markdown_ features?
| They're not part of the language. _Maybe_ the checkmark would
| be justified, for checklists, but even then an x is clearer
| and it's not like you can't do proper checkmarks with other
| fonts. Or arrows, for that matter.
| alexb_ wrote:
| Markdown has numbered lists, checkboxes, and bullet points
| - having ligatures that look better w/ those are not crazy.
| latexr wrote:
| > numbered lists
|
| Do we know that that's how the circular numbers are used?
| They don't say. Personally I'd dislike that in my
| numbered lists, but I'm sure others would like it.
|
| > checkboxes
|
| Again, I doubt those checkmarks are clearer than an x.
| But again, I can see how some people would prefer those.
| That's not nothing new to this font, though.
|
| > and bullet points
|
| Where are the bullet points in that example? I don't see
| a bullet symbol.
|
| > having ligatures
|
| Ligatures are useful for _none_ of those examples. And
| it's not even clear if that's how they work, since they
| specifically and exclusively mention ligatures for
| arrows, not the other symbols. Furthermore, they
| specifically mention (emphasis mine) "improving support
| for Markdown _and_ ligatures" meaning those are separate
| features.
|
| > that look better w/ those are not crazy.
|
| Who called it crazy? Please don't straw man, I'm not
| arguing there's something wrong with adding those
| features, I'm asking how they relate to writing markdown.
| Which they mention but haven't explained. How,
| _specifically_ , is writing markdown improved by using
| this font?
| tobeagram wrote:
| Tobias, creator of SN Pro here. Most sans-serif fonts are not
| designed with Markdown in mind. The asterisks are too small and
| high, backticks are not noticeable, and combining different
| symbols such as for footnotes looks off. Here's a comparison
| for you between Nunito and SN Pro:
| https://my.supernotes.app/share/iron+junior+degree+doctor
|
| Extending this with additional ligatures and arrows makes this
| typeface more ideal for reading and editing quickly.
| latexr wrote:
| Thank you. This is the specific answer I was looking for.
|
| Small note: on that link the footnote syntax is wrong (unless
| Supernotes uses their own specific syntax) in that it should
| be [^Footnote] (caret inside the brackets).
| tobeagram wrote:
| Aha that's just an inline footnote, we support both in
| Supernotes. So you can quickly write ^[Name of Reference]
| (that will auto assign it the number 1 once rendered)
| rather than [^1] ... [1]: Name of Reference.
|
| Footnotes aren't part of the original Markdown
| specification
| (https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/)
| Cenk wrote:
| Love the arrow ligatures!
| depomoty wrote:
| This looks soooo good. Already on the list to try it out on one
| of my products
| doctorhandshake wrote:
| OT but I love the background blur circle on the burger menu on
| this site. Very tasty solution to a perennial design problem on
| mobile.
| tobeagram wrote:
| Thank you! Took a few iterations but got there in the end ~
| Tobias, Supernotes
| roebk wrote:
| Just a small and polite heads up - that mobile menu isn't
| keyboard accessible. Regardless, it's a lovely design.
| nagisa wrote:
| Nit: once the menu is opened the close button is very very
| slightly smaller than the original hamburger button, so
| clicking twice without moving the mouse can result in
| pressing the Home menu item rather than closing the menu.
| zellyn wrote:
| The whole website is just beautifully done. I found myself
| mousing over the "What's New/Features/Pricing/etc." headers
| repeatedly just because it feels fun! In a world of endless
| Bootstrap and rampant Corporate Memphis, seeing a lovingly
| designed bespoke site is so refreshing. Their ad copy is
| delightful too: "Tired of long waiting times and spinning
| astrolabes?"
| LorenDB wrote:
| I'd love to see Linux distros package more open source fonts,
| like this one. Many distros ship with only a handful of fonts,
| and I think there are plenty of open source fonts out there that
| could be included but aren't.
| cl3misch wrote:
| You could just install them yourself? Distro ISOs are already
| large enough as they are.
| philefstat wrote:
| The font this is based is based on Nunito, by Vernon Adams (as
| the article states). He's responsible for many google fonts and
| other open source fonts which rack up billions of views every
| year. I just wanted to share his story:
|
| https://chrisgliddon.com/the-tragic-story-of-vernon-and-oswa...
| farleykr wrote:
| Anyone have experience using Supernotes? How does it compare to
| other note taking apps? Any killer features?
| shinycode wrote:
| I had a hard time getting used to it. I preferred craft
| instead. Maybe since then there is new features ?
| tobeagram wrote:
| Tobias from Supernotes here. Thought I'd give a brief overview.
|
| In general, people switch to us for speed and simplicity.
| Supernotes is the only note-taking app out there that is based
| on collaborative short-form notecards rather than long-form
| files and folders. Notecards are themselves taggable, linkable,
| nestable, and shareable.
|
| This modular approach to your knowledge is more organic,
| allowing you to quickly build out your thoughts and connect
| them together. We've got all the killer features you expect
| from a note-taking app, including real-time collab, offline
| mode, cross-platform (iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, Linux, Web),
| etc. So give it a try if you have a moment :)
| farleykr wrote:
| Thanks for this! I'm keen to try it out. Don't have much use
| for the collaboration but the interface and the other
| features look nice!
| nrabulinski wrote:
| I like the e, it's cute. The only real issue I have with this
| font is that the weight of each digit feels uneven. I can't put
| my finger on it but looking at the comparison chart with the
| version numbers, even though the stroke width is the same, they
| visually feel different whereas the others are more uniform.
| ThePowerOfFuet wrote:
| It's reminiscent of the e in the Heineken logo, which was
| carefully designed to invoke the image of a smile.
| sealeck wrote:
| Maybe I'm cantankerous by nature and suffering from decline bias,
| but I do feel that modern fonts are not "as good" as some older
| ones, e.g. Helvetica, Avenir, Futura, Akzidenz-Grotesk, Century
| typeface, etc.
|
| I get that they have different priorities because old fonts were
| print-oriented and modern ones are designed for screen
| readability but at a pure aesthetic level I feel that the older
| ones win out.
| alexb_ wrote:
| A really nice font I've gotten that fits the more "older" style
| is Berkeley Mono from United States Graphics. Maybe was not the
| greatest purchase, it is expensive for a font lol, but I really
| really enjoy how it looks. Not associated w/ them at all but
| just thought that you might appreciate the suggestion
| lycopodiopsida wrote:
| It is not that expensive for a font (Hi, PragmataPro). The
| real problem is that it is has a quite limited amount of
| symbols.
| bloopernova wrote:
| I've found I like SF Pro from Apple, and Iosevka from Belleve
| Invis. SF Pro especially is really nice for UI elements, and
| Iosevka is great for coding and terminal work.
|
| https://developer.apple.com/fonts/
|
| https://typeof.net/Iosevka/
|
| I'm curious as to how you perceive those 2 font families?
| jim180 wrote:
| Also, SF Mono is beautiful font as well, IMHO.
| jwells89 wrote:
| SF Pro works well as a body text font, too. Very legible and
| easy on the eyes. It's not unusual for me to set text-heavy
| sites (like HN) to use it via userstyles.
| bloopernova wrote:
| That's a really good idea, I should try that via uBlock
| Origin.
|
| Edited to add: in uBlock Origin, go to the dashboard, then
| the "My Filters" tab/section. Enter this into the filter
| list box:
| news.ycombinator.com##*:style(font-family: SF Pro
| !important;)
|
| You can also just clear out the fonts if you want to use
| the defaults set in your browser:
| news.ycombinator.com##*:style(font-family: unset
| !important;)
| JohnDeHope wrote:
| It's pretty, but small serifs on the uppercase I are a must for
| me.
| tobeagram wrote:
| That's often done to prevent confusion between a lowercase l
| and a uppercase I, and granted having both is sometimes
| preferable (especially with monospaced fonts). But in this case
| SN Pro's lowercase l has a tail to be clearly differentiable.
| jccalhoun wrote:
| Being able to tell the difference between I and l is the
| first thing I look for when I see a new font. I was happy to
| see that this does make it easy to distinguish between them.
| brycewray wrote:
| Nice work. Hope it will soon come in variable versions, one for
| regular and one for italic/oblique. Wish they had used curly
| quotes on their various samples, also; it's always nice to check
| how a typeface handles those.
| tobeagram wrote:
| Thanks. We've been dabbling with a variable version for regular
| and italic but it requires a bit more work. Feel free to open
| an issue on the Github and we'll see what we can do. Curly
| quotes are handled as you would expect :) ~ Tobias, Supernotes
| brycewray wrote:
| @tobeagram Have now filed Issue #1. :-) Thanks for the
| suggestion and additional info.
| Jenk wrote:
| Will there be a monospaced variant?
| nolongerthere wrote:
| I know I'll probably get some hate for this but I'm getting comic
| sans vibes from this which gives me an icky feeling
| k8svet wrote:
| Wow, rare I find a sans serif font that feels so good at first
| impression. Might give this a shot on my desktop where I normally
| use OpenSans. Lovely.
| bkazez wrote:
| Why does SN request my first name, last name, email address _and_
| username, and optional photo, and then have a 6+-step tutorial
| that you can't escape early? Seems a bit much just for some
| notecards.
| NoPedantsThanks wrote:
| Nope. No crossbars on the capital "i." I don't know why anyone
| opts for a font with this flaw. If you can't tell a capital "i"
| from a lower-case "L," the font is no good.
| tobeagram wrote:
| You can tell apart a capital "I" from a lowercase "L". The
| lowercase "L" has a tail on the end. Granted the capital "I"
| doesn't have a crossbars, but that's usually reserved for serif
| fonts, not san-serif.
| NoPedantsThanks wrote:
| The crossbars on the capital "i" are not serifs. Serif fonts
| have serifs on the crossbar.
|
| Only sometimes does the lower-case L have a tail. And even if
| it does, there's no way to know that unless it happens to
| appear in the same text as a capital "i."
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(page generated 2024-02-22 23:02 UTC)