
Test-Driving a $200 Coding Font: Operator Mono - kenneth_reitz
https://www.kennethreitz.org/essays/test-driving-a-200-programming-font-operator-mono
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metaphor
In case anyone else was looking to vet the entire character set[1].

{I, l, 1}, {Q, O, 0}, {S, 5}, {Z, 2}...if I have to pause even for a second to
find confidence, it won't be in editor. Old school MIL-STD-100 and its modern
ASME Y14 equivalent were spot on when they expressly prohibited the use of
some of these characters as designators in technical drawings.

>> ...using this (beautiful) script typeface for code comments has improved
both the quality of tone and frequency of my code annotations — something
which I highly value.

Maybe it's just me, but I find it noticeably difficult to parse the
italics...suspecting it may have something to do with discontinuity between
script characters.

Anyone have an idea who the target market is based on their $200 price point?

[1]
[http://www.typography.com/fonts/operator/characters/operator...](http://www.typography.com/fonts/operator/characters/operatormonobook)

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dvcrn
Interesting recommendation. I asked around here and turns out one of our
designers actually owns the font! I'm going to give it a try for the next hour
or so and see if it actually feels different enough for me to consider
dropping the $200 on it. As first impression, the font feels "rounder" and I
find it a bit harder to read.

Are there any other "non-usual" recommendations for writing code? I remember
trying Nitti [0] for a while for, that's the font iA Writer uses.

/edit: After very short usage I already found one thing the author said to be
true:

> While using Operator Mono, I found that I scan entire words as I read code
> more easily; while in other typefaces, my parsing style is often more
> letter-by-letter.

Not sure why this happens either. Maybe because the font feels more condensed?
Single characters almost "merge" into blocks (words). Though it also feels a
little bit harder on the eyes to read single characters.

[0]:
[https://www.boldmonday.com/typeface/nitti/](https://www.boldmonday.com/typeface/nitti/)

~~~
arm
On your question for other ‘non-usual’ recommendations for writing code, I’ve
found myself predominantly using Everson Mono¹ simply because of the wide
range of characters it supports in Unicode’s BMP (and unbelievably, SMP as
well!). I’m pretty sure it contains glyphs for more Unicode codepoints than
any other monospaced font mentioned here. Not to mention that it was created
by Michael Everson², who has made a sizeable number of contributions to the
Unicode Standard himself.

――――――

¹ —
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everson_Mono](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everson_Mono)

² —
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Everson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Everson)

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xupybd
Wow $200 for a font. I don't care how good it is I don't think I could ever
justify spending that much.

~~~
sotojuan
That's a pretty common price. Most people just never have the need to purchase
typefaces.

~~~
xupybd
Yeah it makes sense if you are using publicly but for coding where only you
see the font, it's a bit silly.

~~~
azinman2
It takes hours and hours and hours to make a font from an expert designer -- a
rare skill set. I do think they generally should be rewarded for good work.
Luckily Apple already has in Monaco, which is what I use. Wish there was a way
to try this font out for a week without dropping the $200

~~~
geezerjay
> It takes hours and hours and hours to make a font from an expert designer --
> a rare skill set. I do think they generally should be rewarded for good
> work.

That's pretty much entirely irrelevant. The time anyone takes to put together
something is immaterial to the price. The only thing that's relevant is the
added value. Putting together a new font has a very marginal added value -- if
any -- for end-users such as people using editors or IDEs.

If we're talking about publishing then that's a whole different thing: fonts
are a major part of the end design, and they can play a major role in
establishing a corporate identity. Playing a part in that does add value, just
like incorporating the work of a professional photographer in the corporate
image.

But that doesn't mean that any picture taken by anyone suddenly is worth small
fortunes, particularly if the photographer wastes too much time taking useless
pictures.

~~~
azinman2
Fonts and design play a huge role in how we understand and relate to the
world. Most of this happens with us being unaware. But if a specific font is
easier to read, or more pleasant to look at, that will alter our mood,
outlook, and productivity.

What your arguing is a bit like saying 8-bit non-antialiased fonts running CDE
in Emacs has the same value prop as running Atom on a mac today. It's just not
true, otherwise the market would look very different.

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blackoil
If you can't afford it, try following alternative

[https://medium.com/@docodemore/an-alternative-to-operator-
mo...](https://medium.com/@docodemore/an-alternative-to-operator-mono-
font-6e5d040e1c7e#.7pc1cgikl)

~~~
mistercow
I looked at that, but there doesn't seem to be a way to get Sublime to support
multiple fonts. That means you'd need to merge the two fonts into a single
family, and I had zero luck getting that to happen.

I also think it's pretty important for the cursive font not only to be
monospace, but to be the same width as the non-cursive font. You'll get
neither of those if you follow those instructions. In fact, I was not able to
find a single free monospace cursive font.

So here's hoping that somebody gets inspired by this and makes a free
alternative. I get that fonts are a ton of work to make, but I don't think I
can justify spending 200 bucks on a font that only I will look at.

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jeffwilcox
I also purchased it back when Daring Fireball was recommending it... on a
retina display it's nice, but it has its flaws, and the value in my mind for
an individual developer for this kind of thing is like $10 if it was on
Kickstarter... we don't even pay for our editors!

Real experts in font design, but trying to market to developers... probably a
mistake.

~~~
Walkman
> we don't even pay for our editors!

You really should!

~~~
bradstewart
Why (or how) should I pay for Atom?

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duaneb
There are plenty of mono fonts with italic variants. What distinguishes this
font? How easily are the characters distinguished? How does it look under
different font engines? What is the optimal size for the font? How much
Unicode does it support? How about common digraphs (e.g. Right arrow for =>)?

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marmaduke
There are other mono fonts with italic variants. An issue is getting an editor
to italicize as part of a highlighting scheme. I've only seen this in Mac vim
and intellij but ouldnt be interested to hear about others especially in
terminal

~~~
Zyst
VS Code has support for it on a per-theme basis. I am currently using the Atom
One Dark theme on VS Code, and Operator Mono, it does work:

[https://puu.sh/sbUti/6022c0afb0.png](https://puu.sh/sbUti/6022c0afb0.png)

Above being a random screenshot from a project laying around.

~~~
CaRDiaK
I haven't found how to persist those italic settings. I can use the inspector
and set them, but as soon as I close the app I loose them.

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Zyst
As I mentioned, it's on a per-theme basis.

Try installing 10-15 themes, and then trying them one by one. Some will have
italic comments, some won't.

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develop7
Have you tested PragmataPro¹?

¹:
[http://www.fsd.it/shop/fonts/pragmatapro/](http://www.fsd.it/shop/fonts/pragmatapro/)

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Derbasti
In fact, here is one person who owns PragmataPro, and loves it. I particularly
love the _extensive_ unicode support, and the differently-shaped bold faces. I
tried the programming ligatures for a while, but didn't like them. I have no
problem with spending money on something I look at 8 hours per day.

~~~
develop7
So it makes two of us! I've kickstarted it back in 2011 and it so far it feels
like one of the best $20 ever spent.

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sambe
Of course a lot of people mention the price immediately. I don't think I'm
going to spend that much, but it's not out-of-line with what I'd expect for a
font (I've probably never bought one). It's also quite affordable for a
professional with disposable cash.

What I think is strange is licensing per-computer. Maybe that's normal for
fonts. Seems very stingy to me that I should pay multiple times for
laptop/work/home computer.

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iKlsR
Office Code Pro, Source Code Pro, Fira Code, Hermit

~~~
ovao
Fira Code is excellent. I find it hard to imagine I'll be using anything else
in the next few years.

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anotheryou
I don't think the italics match at all. It's like using another font for
italics. At least the "s" and "r" just break the with the base-lines and make
things weird, why? "l" and "f" to a lesser extend, too.

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Daviey
Great to see praise for Ubuntu Mono font... Whilst it was developed (and
funded) for Ubuntu, it is released under a free licence, available on google
docs and google fonts.

I'll give Operator Mono a try... but i absolutely love Ubuntu Mono.

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ggregoire
I would be curious to know what's the % of users who actually bought the font.

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atarian
Very good sir! A fine choice to go with your $300 keyboard!

~~~
nsxwolf
The keyboard is absolutely worth it and it's cheaper than that now.

The font though? I don't know about that.

~~~
hackits
Tried that keyboard, actually consider that it's a bit over-rated by people.
Settled on the Topre clone (RC930) as my work and home keyboard.

~~~
nsxwolf
That RC930 looks nice if they've managed to replicate the feel. Topre switches
are expensive and for no real reason other than a lack of competition from
what I can tell.

Besides the key switches, I really like the layout of the HHKB2. It is based
on the old Sun workstation keyboards, which I began my professional career on.
And I've learned to appreciate not having the numeric keypad, for ergonomic
reasons (mouse hand stays much closer to my body, right shoulder benefits)

The arrow keys and others being replaced with a function key combo took
getting used to, but now it's pure muscle memory. I like not moving my hands
as much.

It's also a really ideal vi editor layout with its escape key location.

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acedinlowball
Sorry, but this person's hipster glasses are clouding their judgement. The
author enjoys the idea of paying for and using a $200 font way more than he
actually enjoys using the font itself. In case you weren't convinced, the
whole "I wrote this blog post with a pen" and a picture of their quirky and
messy work area with the antique mechanical keyboard....

You are just the worst kind of person, Kenneth.

