So I made a new "programmer font."

[IWantFroyo]

Downloaded it. I actually quite like it. It's readable (despite what Famicube33 posted), and I look forward to using a finished version. I use small fonts, and so far I've been using Times New Roman. Not the most readable font for programming.

Keep up the good work!

[Famicube64]

Downloaded it. I actually quite like it. It's readable (despite what Famicube33 posted), and I look forward to using a finished version. I use small fonts, and so far I've been using Times New Roman. Not the most readable font for programming.

Keep up the good work!

That's Famicube64 to you, good sir.

[ninjaaron]

Downloaded it. I actually quite like it. It's readable (despite what Famicube33 posted), and I look forward to using a finished version. I use small fonts, and so far I've been using Times New Roman. Not the most readable font for programming.

Keep up the good work!

You should tell me what you would look for in a finished version. At this point, I'm just doing minor tweaks. I'm quite satisfied with it, so if you want it to improve, I need some suggestions.

As far as "readability", I'm not exactly sure what he means either. I'm using it for everything right now, including GTK apps (which I don't especialy recommend), just so I will notice things that bother me more quickly. I'm not having trouble reading anything.

So, Famicube64, is it that you simply don't like the font, or are really having trouble distinguishing characters? If you are going by the picture, my first suggestion for taking care of the 'readablity' issue is reading only those texts that appear in languages you understand.

[IWantFroyo]

I really don't see what more there is to change. The font is quite brilliant as it is. I would suggest checking it over for accuracy one last time, possibly rounding out the c's and q's a bit (just my view- ask some other people on this), and packaging it.

That's Famicube64 to you, good sir.

Ahh... Sorry.
This is what happens when I Go Advanced and get too lazy to scroll down and check the spelling.
I'm using Go Advanced less and less. I'm just putting in the BB tags manually, now.

[Spice Weasel]

I can't read it without my eyes hurting.

[el_koraco]

The regular letters are awesome, IMO they exhibit none of the weaknesses that one finds in the artwiz fonts, like a too large spacing, or unreadability in certain letters (m and w in lime as an example). Nice job, wouldn't change a thing!

I find certain things to be lacking in the capital letters, but I'm not a 100% on how those things should be corrected, it mostly comes to design decisions. The curve to the left in Q, A, C is not bad in itself, but I seem to be annoyed by some inconsistencies (say, you have the curve in Q, but not in O, even though the tail in Q is the only real difference). I'm also not sold on the tilt in C and S, it seems a little out of place.

I would also make some adjustments either to the O, or to the D, because they are a little too similar. Also, the V looks like somebody chopped it up and put it back together. The W is awesome, though, as is the B, but the P looks like it's misaligned.

I'm not sure what to do, whether to give up on the tilting, or just style it a little differently. It's completely up to you as the designer.

The charset is sweet, but the square brackets are weird, I get the feeling they're part of a sobriety test or something.

All in all, i give it 6,5 out of 10, but I'm pretty sure you could bring it up to 9.

P.S. don't feed the trolls.

[kaldor]

You should tell me what you would look for in a finished version. At this point, I'm just doing minor tweaks. I'm quite satisfied with it, so if you want it to improve, I need some suggestions.

As far as "readability", I'm not exactly sure what he means either. I'm using it for everything right now, including GTK apps (which I don't especialy recommend), just so I will notice things that bother me more quickly. I'm not having trouble reading anything.

So, Famicube64, is it that you simply don't like the font, or are really having trouble distinguishing characters? If you are going by the picture, my first suggestion for taking care of the 'readablity' issue is reading only those texts that appear in languages you understand.

I took a look at the font and found the same issues. The font *looks* very nice, but I could never imagine myself using it. The letters feel too small and too "boxy" and make my eyes hurt a little bit due to straining/squinting at the characters.

It may depend on the resolution or type of screen, but for me there's no way I could ever use it. That's not to say it isn't a good job though, of course. It's obvious a lot of work was put into it, and that for some people it will be great.

[el_koraco]

I took a look at the font and found the same issues. The font *looks* very nice, but I could never imagine myself using it. The letters feel too small and too "boxy" and make my eyes hurt a little bit due to straining/squinting at the characters.

If you're straining your eyes on this font, it's probably because you don't have the font engine set to full bitmap rendering.

[ninjaaron]

The regular letters are awesome, IMO they exhibit none of the weaknesses that one finds in the artwiz fonts, like a too large spacing, or unreadability in certain letters (m and w in lime as an example). Nice job, wouldn't change a thing!

I find certain things to be lacking in the capital letters, but I'm not a 100% on how those things should be corrected, it mostly comes to design decisions. The curve to the left in Q, A, C is not bad in itself, but I seem to be annoyed by some inconsistencies (say, you have the curve in Q, but not in O, even though the tail in Q is the only real difference). I'm also not sold on the tilt in C and S, it seems a little out of place.

I would also make some adjustments either to the O, or to the D, because they are a little too similar. Also, the V looks like somebody chopped it up and put it back together. The W is awesome, though, as is the B, but the P looks like it's misaligned.

I'm not sure what to do, whether to give up on the tilting, or just style it a little differently. It's completely up to you as the designer.

The charset is sweet, but the square brackets are weird, I get the feeling they're part of a sobriety test or something.

All in all, i give it 6,5 out of 10, but I'm pretty sure you could bring it up to 9.

P.S. don't feed the trolls.

Thanks for the criticisms and the complements. A lot of the things you brought up are bugging me also. I've actually already made some adjustments to P, D, and K. As far as "the tilted letters" I'm in a quandry about them myself. When I take them out, some of the letters begin to look very similar, but they definitly do look a little out of place at times. It will probably stay in A for sure, and most likely in the Q, since those letters don't bug me in the least, but I'll have another go at some of the others.

I'm quite fond of the quirky brackets. They were one of my favorite carry-overs from the orignial OCR-A, but if I get a lot of negative feedback about them, I suppose I can just keep them on my computer and make normal brackets for everyone else.

[ninjaaron]

I took a look at the font and found the same issues. The font *looks* very nice, but I could never imagine myself using it. The letters feel too small and too "boxy" and make my eyes hurt a little bit due to straining/squinting at the characters.

It may depend on the resolution or type of screen, but for me there's no way I could ever use it. That's not to say it isn't a good job though, of course. It's obvious a lot of work was put into it, and that for some people it will be great.

Yeah, I know what you mean. Working with fonts like this is an adjustment, though I've found it's more in you head than your eye. The shapes are clear, but your mind isn't used to reading something so small at first. The nice thing, as el_koraco would constantly remind me, is how much you can fit on the screen with a font at this size, but it's definitly a "niche market."

I've thought about making a larger version, but I have trouble seeing the point, since vector fonts look better in larger sizes (in my opinion). There will never be a less boxy version, however. There are plenty of excellent bitmap fonts with more rounded edges (Terminus, Dina, MonteCarlo, Profont, Tamsyn, etc.). I happen to like boxy fonts for monospace contexts, and I feel like the "boxy approach" presents certain advantages when working with bitmaps because the pixel is, well, a box.

But for sure, it's not intended to be a font for all people or all uses.

Thanks for giving it a look.