For what it's worth, I mostly avoid using software that mandates or doesn't work as expected without nerd fonts. I find nerd fonts unnecessary but maybe it's just me.
The custom font adds a number of glyphs which wouldn't otherwise be accessible. Specifically for the folder icon [1] and I'd have thought for the borders as well.
Nerd Font is pretty cool, I'd give it a go - I don't know how terminals gracefully fallback if the glyphs don't exist.
If memory serves this was one of the things that bit youtube-dl in the ass with github: the documentation described/demonstrated using it to violate copyright.
Not in their documentation. Two or three of the many videos used in their unit tests were music videos, and wouldn't have been used if youtube didn't serve them differently.
it's not technically required to function properly, just listed as a prerequisite since several glyphs require a nerd font :) you can go ahead and think of it as optional if you'd like.
I suppose we could make Nerd Fonts opt-in via the config, but I don't think it's that unusual an ask. See: https://starship.rs
The images in the README have been updated.