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by phaedryx 2154 days ago
There are several things I look for in a "code" font: distinct 0 vs O, distinct l vs 1, readability, etc.

I don't think I'd use this for code, but I might for UI.

Edit: it seems that the variations are more code-oriented when you shift the code more "MONO" (based on experimentation on its website)

3 comments

In fact instead of "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" there should be a standard sentence for code fonts using those characters. Zero[0] = Oh[0]; One[1] = El[l]; or something ;)
yes!

Il|i! and DO0Q

Came to say the same thing. I placed an uppercase letter 'O' next to a zero in the preview text. They are very similar looking. I much prefer fonts with a dot or slash in the zero. If they go ahead and place a bar across the number seven and letter 'Z', I'm a bigger fan
With parameter mono set to min. 0.5, you have a distinct 0 and O. And also serifs, nice font.
I like 0 vs O better, but 1 vs l worse: https://imgur.com/a/1tXx8aH
There is a stylistic set which allows you to get an unambiguous 1 vs l (ss05). See:

https://github.com/arrowtype/recursive#opentype-features

Also, there are fonts made specifically for code which have code ligatures & the simple l, f, 6, & 9 frozen in, if you like these features but don’t want to mess with OpenType features (or if your code editor doesn’t support that).

https://github.com/arrowtype/recursive/tree/main/fonts/rec_m...

What is "parameter mono set to min. 0.5" and where do you find that?

[edit: Oh I see. It's not on the linked page but on the font's homepage.]

Yeah, there's a lot of detail that is missing by linking us to the Google Font website instead of the font's website, https://www.recursive.design/