Choosing the best font for programming

During programming, you have to spend a long time at the computer and proofread the program code. That's why choosing the right font is an important task. Eye comfort in this aspect comes first. But the visual style should not be overlooked either. In this review, we will look at how a good font should look for working with code. We will show the best fonts for programming, as well as give instructions on how to download them.

The best fonts

One of the most important indicators when choosing a font to work with code is readability. It is important that the symbols are clearly distinguishable. Have a simple form in the same style. Otherwise, the eyes will get tired quickly. Ligatures are often used in them. These are signs that consist of several symbols merging with each other. Due to this approach, reading becomes more comfortable. But it is still possible to simplify the programmer's work with the program code more efficiently. So we have selected eight diverse fonts. Each of them has its own distinctive features.

JETBRAINS MONO

A free font designed for developers. The emphasis in it is on comfort when reading and editing code. All symbols have a similar simple form. They have the same width and there are no elements on the outer borders, for example, the same serifs. This is especially convenient when reading vertically.

Main Features:

- lowercase letters are specially made higher.
- all symbols have a unique appearance, for example, the digit 0 has a dot inside, and in the case of the letter O it is missing.
- the presence of ligatures.
- the italics have a non-standard angle of 9 degrees.

The latest version of the font is available for download from the official website.

FIRA CODE

Fira Code is a subspecies of the monospaced Fira Mono. It differs in the identical font of all characters, but there is one difference - the use of ligatures, which are only in Fira Code. The font was originally created for Firefox OS. The designer focused on better readability.

To download the font, you should contact the official repository. To do this, run the command:

$ sudo apt install fonts-firacode

After its completion, the Fire Code will appear in the system. But if the command didn't work, then use Google Fonts to download.

MONOLISA

The following is a monospaced font, conceived specifically for software developers. In addition to excellent readability, the creators paid special attention to the visual style. The symbols have an increased width, and the height may vary slightly. There are 120 ligatures specifically for the program code. The symbols themselves have a choice of alternative style.

This font is distributed on a paid basis on the official website. It has a trial version only for the Latin alphabet, without ligatures and other features. It is suitable exclusively for non-commercial use.

IBM PLEX MONO

The idea of IBM Plex Mono is to show the spirit of IBM and the ideology that has passed through its entire history. In its style, it is a grotesque font that is perfectly readable on all devices. Everything described in combination with monospacing makes it optimal for working with code.

The new version of IBM Plex Mono can always be found in the official repository on the Github website. Download one of the font versions, for example, a more modern one TrueType.zip . Open the IBM-Plex-Mono folder in the resulting archive, and then unpack it into the system.

SOURCE CODE PRO

From the name of the font alone, it is clear that it was originally designed for both reading and editing source code. Source Sans is used as the basis.

Font Features:

- the increased height and width of the characters, but they are reduced to the same size among themselves.
- the characters are not similar to each other, which is especially important, for example, with i, l and 1.
- increased the size of punctuation marks.
- the presence of a set of Adobe Latin 4 glyphs.

It also supports many languages, but mostly it uses Latin.

MONOID

Monoid in its appearance is made in pixel style. The font is great for low-resolution screens. The symbols themselves are perfectly distinguishable, have large apertures (vertical and horizontal slices at the borders). Special attention is paid to customization, because many parameters can be configured even before downloading. Monoid is required to download on the website of its creator Larsenwork.com.

UBUNTU MONO

The font was originally conceived for Ubuntu and is embedded in this Linux distribution. It has no serifs, which is important when studying the code. Ubuntu Mono uses OpenType features and is perfectly distinguishable even on small screens, for example, on mobile devices.

The Ubuntu Mono font is publicly available on the official website. Scroll through this page to the Resources section and click Download for Free to download it. It can also be found in the Google Fonts service. To download, open this link and click on the Download Family button.

INCONSOLATA

The monospaced Inconsolata is inspired by the proportional font Avenir, proprietary Consolas and Letter Gothic, classic for IMB computers. Initially, there was no bold font in it, but over time it was added. Among the features of the font, it is worth noting the high quality of characters in the output. This is one of the aspects that its creator focused on.

The fastest simple way to download Inconsolata is to use the official Ubuntu repository. The following command is responsible for this action:

$ sudo apt-get install fonts-inconsolata

Well, if an error occurred during its execution, then download the font from the Google website in the usual way.