Why I use a proportional font in my text editor and you should too
October 11, 2012 in SoftwareHere’s a list of things I don’t do that often:
- draw lines with pseudographics in my code;
- align columns of code horizontally;
- work on a CRT monitor in text mode.
And here’s what I do every day:
- Read large blocks of code and inline documentation.
So I bit the bullet and set Verdana as the font in my Sublime Text 2. After a short period of adaptation, I like my code better than ever. Much more text fits in the same screen space, and it’s still easier to read; line density is much better (no ugly gaps where “i”-s and “l”-s are). And you know, there’s not even a problem with zeroes and “O”-s, because the zero is significantly thinner than the capital “O”.
I’m not giving any examples; just go ahead and see for yourself. Verdana is a good font because it was designed for on-screen readability (unlike the “programmer fonts”, no they weren’t).
My current opinion is that monospace fonts are as much a nostalgic relic of the past as black-and-green terminal windows are. Wake up, Neo – your monitor can render much more than typographics from the eighties.
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