Comic Mono

https://dtinth.github.io/comic-mono-font/

by rootforce • 2 years ago

441 116 2 years ago

dtinth.github.io

rareitem• 2 years ago

Surprisingly very comfy and readable

Wow, this is weirdly lovely. I don't think I would code with it (probably!) but it would look great for sort of blackboard-ish code samples in teaching materials.

anamexis• 2 years ago

If you want this style but balanced slightly more utility, I love Codelia [1]. It's my main coding font. It is, however, a paid font.

[1] https://tosche.net/fonts/codelia

widowlark• 2 years ago

I get Panic! Studios vibes from this font.

e4m2• 2 years ago

There is also Comic Code by the same author: https://tosche.net/fonts/comic-code. Feels like a more polished version of Comic Mono (but it is paid, too).

thrownblown2• 2 years ago

you gotta pay for them italics

strunz4• 2 years ago

This font looks so nice, but so expensive! Wish there was a cheaper personal use option.

levocardia• 2 years ago

$15 is expensive? Just wait until you find out how much a professional design font costs!

ChrisArchitect• 2 years ago

Some previous discussion:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36312200

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25520510

mkaic• 2 years ago

I have used Comic Mono as my coding font for the past 2 years and unironically love it. I installed it as a joke so I could take some screenshots and get funny reactions out of my friends, but found myself genuinely enjoying the readability. These days I frequently forget it's even installed except when someone new joins the team and sees my IDE setup for the first time:

"What font is that??"

"Oh, haha, yeah... It's Comic Sans, but monospaced!"

"Uh huh. Okie dokie then."

rdoherty• 2 years ago

Me too! I did it so I wouldn't take the codebase I'm working on so seriously :)

mlsu• 2 years ago

While we're in this thread suggesting comic-style monospaced fonts, I can recommend Monaspace Radon:

https://monaspace.githubnext.com/ (go down to variants, it's 4th)

It actually works!

I actually really like Comic Sans and that style of font. Don't understand the haters!

core_dumped• 2 years ago

All of the Monaspace fonts are really well done.

But Krypton is the best :P

jsheard• 2 years ago

The "texture healing" feature is really clever, I hope that catches on in more mono fonts.

dspillett3• 2 years ago

My two problems with it were/are:

1. Gratuitous overuse often in inappropriate places (bad news from work, invitation to a funeral, etc.)

2. The fact that it was optimised in its hinting for low resolution screens common around the time of its creation (and its initial target, via MS Bob) making it not optimal for higher resolutions (in print, or on more modern higher resolution screens with or without sub-pixel rendering). If you are going to use that sort of font, I think there are better choices than Comic Sans itself (unless CS has had updates over the years, which, come to think of it, is not unlikely).

If you really want to wind up people who care too much about what fonts you use, try combining the two most overuses and disliked with Comic Papyrus: https://creativemarket.com/blog/designer-combines-papyrus-an... (since renamed Comic Parchment due to litigious arseholery).

adastra223• 2 years ago

inappropriate places

You're begging the question. Why is it inappropriate?

magnetowasright• 2 years ago

Funeral invitation in comic sans (or your combo punch of comic sans + papyrus) is absolutely my vibe, brb gotta update my will to stipulate this

Jokes aside, I see a lot of either font on local small businesses' branding and it definitely makes an impression, for better or (usually) worse. I'm probably missing out on some great local businesses because I've written them off without really thinking about it until now because of using either font.

aidenn0• 2 years ago

I find the Radon font to make the l and i characters look too much like an oblique z character.

meowface2• 2 years ago

I don't know if I'm unique or something, but Radon is extremely painful for me to look at and makes everything harder to read. It makes me feel like I'm dyslexic or something. I currently use Fira Code and find that very easy to read and look at.

jihadjihad2• 2 years ago

It’s not just you. A few weeks ago I saw the “noble gas” fonts here on HN and gave them a try, ended up going back to JetBrains Mono. Still haven’t found one that can reliably displace it—even my prior daily driver, Fira Code!

b112• 2 years ago

Obviously this stuff is personal, so if you like, awesome. For me, my first thought was "what about italics"?

replete• 2 years ago

The 'l' looks like a 'Z' to me, have you just got used to this?

card_zero2• 2 years ago

I just don't like it as a comic handwriting font. Something about its character, or lack of character. It should feel lively and impish, but instead it feels lame and half-dead, to me. There's all these attempts at quirkiness like the 'C' with its irregular curve and little hook, but they all fall flat, they don't seem natural, they don't have rhythm. It gives me a feeling like I've been handed a weak joke and I'm expected to read it aloud.

perelin• 2 years ago

My daily driver for the last year or so. But it really is an acquired taste. Some colleagues love it and now use it as well, some hate looking at it and comment on it every time I share my screen.

thrownblown2• 2 years ago

Comic sans is great for dyslexia, b's and d's are not mirror images.

I have used Comic Code for years for this reason, and get the occasional giggle when pair programming.

https://tosche.net/fonts/comic-code

VeejayRampay2• 2 years ago

we need to stop pushing that narrative, Comic Sans is merely ONE OF the fonts that are better for people with dyslexia

stuaxo• 2 years ago

Nice, has any one tried scaling this down to VGA and EGA sizes, yet?

I probably should.

bitnasty• 2 years ago

I hate it. Absolutely amazing.

chrisguilbeau• 2 years ago

I've been using a comic sans based mono font now since the last time I saw it on HN (about a year ago based on my receipt). I use a paid version called Comic Code [1]

I find it very easy to read as well as fun. I had similar feelings about using Monaco in the past. I find it personally makes programming easier on the eyes and enjoyable.

I remember reading the font is similar to the letters that are taught in kindergarten which is a theory of why it's easy on the eyes.

[1] https://tosche.net/fonts/comic-code

adastra223• 2 years ago

Another Comic Code user here, although I only bought it because I didn't know about these free alternatives which look just as good. It seriously reduces eyestrain and makes me more efficient. First thing I install on any new computer!

cubefox2• 2 years ago

Comic Code does look significantly better than Comic Mono (which wasn't created by a professional) in my opinion. Just compare i and l (lower case L), for example.

https://fonts.ilovetypography.com/fonts/tabular-type-foundry...

strunz4• 2 years ago

I really like his Codelia font; but I just can't justify spending that much on a font when there's so many free alternatives. Wish the was a cheaper non-commercial license.

groby_b2• 2 years ago

$15.50 for something you use every moment of your working life?

It's not that much.

It's fine to use free versions instead, but maybe let's stop asking for freebies from folks who make their living that way, especially from Indy folks. (Badger your average megacorp for free stuff for all you want, they'll find ways to extract money somehow)

rootforce• 2 years ago

This is cool. I unironically use comic mono as my daily driver. It helps me remember to have fun.

cubefox2• 2 years ago

The font used in the text of the linked piece is different (significantly worse) from the one in the picture at the top.

awkward• 2 years ago

One similarity it has with fonts specifically designed to counter dyslexia is that every character looks different. The handwritten look introduces more cues for the reader to pick up on than a more precise font.

jrmg• 2 years ago

To my eyes, especially at small sizes, Comic Code has way more ‘Courier’ to it than Comic Mono.

rob74• 2 years ago

Yeah, it's different enough to avoid triggering my Comic Sans allergy, but OTOH at least Comic Sans has a clear purpose (comic-style lettering), while this sits in the middle between Comic Sans and a "typewriter-like" font (Courier), and I somehow can't imagine a typewriter with this font...

card_zero2• 2 years ago

If you look at screenshot #5, the text is the same size as the text the page is written in, yet looks very different. No slab serifs on 'r' or 'n', and a less quirky 'y' and 'k'. So now I don't know if the page is written in the font it's talking about, or some other font. Confusing.

Syzygies• 2 years ago

Ligatures! Or not! Nice.

mstade• 2 years ago

I first saw this when I was on a screen sharing session with a client, and couldn't help but ask – is that... is that comic sans?

Turns out he was also using Comic Code, and he basically had the same feelings as you towards it. I thought what the heck why not, and gave it a go. Now I'm hooked as well, for the very same reasons.

Coding, somehow, is just more fun and enjoyable now. Moreover, it's probably one of the more legible fonts I've ever used. Didn't expect that!

graemep• 2 years ago

I remember reading the font is similar to the letters that are taught in kindergarten which is a theory of why it's easy on the eyes.

I know some people find it easier to read, but that explanation does not seem right to me. For one thing are kids not taught to read using printed materials? I taught my kids to read using whole words - flash cards and then "look and say" books and those did not use fonts anything like this.

I personally find it hard to read and it slows me down slightly. I wonder whether some people benefit from being slowed down? Maybe making their eye movements more deliberate or efficient?

PawgerZ• 2 years ago

I believe they mean similar to the fonts when you're learning the alphabet, not when you're learning to read. Like those books where you trace "A" ten times then "a" 10 times then "B" and so on.

stonethrowaway• 2 years ago

Slashed zeroes, carry-over from a more civilized time.

swayvil• 2 years ago

It's really... nice. I feel happy just looking at it. And it's damn legible too.

ggm• 2 years ago

I said in another thread about mono fonts, that I now have used comicMono so long, I automatically just put it into "Courier" and when I see a real Courier font, I do a double-take.

miunau• 2 years ago

I've been using this for about four years as my daily font. No regrets.

c6400sc• 2 years ago

It's different enough from Comic Sans that it doesn't look terrible to me!

edit: drop actually from prev sentence

worewood• 2 years ago

I'm working on a fork of it [1], because the original didn't have diacritics (á,ã,etc.), the metrics were a bit off for me and the "f" has a line at the bottom which I didn't like; and I'm also trying to adjust parameters because some IDEs (Eclipse on Windows) are have problems with it. I've also made it work with Python 3 and put the source fonts in submodules so you don't need to search for them manually to build it yourself. Work in progress.

[1] https://github.com/caioycosta/comic-fork-mono-font

gcarvalho• 2 years ago

Huh, I’m pretty sure the version I use is the one from the post and it does have diacritics. (I’m not on my computer now but will check later.)

One thing that bothers me, though, is that “í” is oddly positioned and almost makes it look like there’s an extra space between it and the following character.

dfc• 2 years ago

I use fantasque sans. I forget what made me choose it over Comic Shanns. It's worth a look if you like this style.

https://github.com/belluzj/fantasque-sans

noisy_boy• 2 years ago

It is quite readable, has a certain softness along with some uniformity to it without all the comedy. I used it for quite a while before settling on Iosevka.

imp0cat• 2 years ago

Fantasque Sans Mono has those fancy "a" which I quite like.

tmtvl2• 2 years ago

IBM Plex (which I'm currently using) also has the double-story (or Roman) 'a', I like how distinct it is from 'o' and 'q' compared to single-story (or Italic) 'a'.

jamal-kumar• 2 years ago

Does anyone else remember when the OpenBSD people were releasing research slides and other material in MS comic sans? The LibreSSL logo still has it on their site and if you scroll far enough here [1] they go off about 'weaponizing' it, something about the license actually being free enough to piss off linux nerds while being what it is enough to piss off design nerds

https://www.openbsd.org/papers/bsdcan14-libressl/mgp00001.ht...

slmjkdbtl• 2 years ago

I use APL386 as my daily font, has some comic sans vibe but has a simpler and cleaner look imo

https://abrudz.github.io/APL386/

kristianp• 2 years ago

Looks more "gappy" than comic mono.

andrewshadura• 2 years ago

How about using Impact for programming? :)

dvhh• 2 years ago

I feel that in "CDN" the C is way too close to D, some uppercase character spacing seem to close, defeating the "readability" purpose

BugsJustFindMe2• 2 years ago

As I said a year ago, the i, l, and f serifs feel extremely non-comic. It's not right if it's not sans. IMO https://www.dafont.com/pointfree.font is still the best monospace comic font. All the others try to uncomic themselves with smoother more regular letterforms as though the goal for some reason is to become more mechanical and less lovingly human. No! I reject it! Pointfree retains the purity of the original beauty without sacrifice.

(https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36312200)

_kst_• 2 years ago

I tried it in PuTTY on Windows.

I ran into two problems.

1. Poor coverage of non-ASCII characters (it won't display simple accented letters, pound sign, euro sign, etc.).

2. []{} are cut off at the top.

dartharva• 2 years ago

This is NOT a nerd font and does not support those glyphs.

ahmrz• 2 years ago

I've been using a similar font called Maple Mono [1] for around a year now, and it's amazing. I personally find it more readable for code.

[1] https://github.com/subframe7536/maple-font

strunz4• 2 years ago

Loving this so far, thanks!

tombert• 2 years ago

This has been my coding and terminal font for about three years now.

I really like it. I find it really easy to read, and it's fun to see people's reactions when they suddenly realize that they've been staring at Comic Sans on my computer.

I need to try out Comic Code at some point, but it's hard for me to justify when Comic Mono is free.

makach• 2 years ago

I don't hate it!

amir734jj• 2 years ago

I have been using Monaco for everything. It's perfect.

rvz• 2 years ago

Here's an old easter egg for you:

Google: Comic Sans.

Enjoy.

rbanffy• 2 years ago

Reminds me it’s about time I ditch my .pe script in my 3270 font and turn it into Python. There’s a number of things I can do to improve it that are just too unwieldy with FontForge’s built-in language (mostly for the lack of good docs).

VeejayRampay2• 2 years ago

it really is the dumbest-looking font in history, absolutely iconic and unmistakable

davonisher• 2 years ago

We have a group chat with 20 random people sending just Comic Sans spotted in the wild. Just pictures, nothing else. Its the best thing that ever happened to me.

mellonaut• 2 years ago

There is a fork of this[1] that includes programming ligatures, which might make this a more viable FOSS alternative to Comic-Code mentioned elsewhere.

[1] https://github.com/wayou/comic-mono-font/

OJFord• 2 years ago

I wanted to hate this, but it's actually not horrible at all? Looks nice just as a regular sans-serif font even - turns out the issue with comic sans is the letter spacing?

knallfrosch• 2 years ago

I've tried Operator Mono, SF Mono, Ubuntu, Roboto, Consolas etc. Switched daily, weekly, monthly..

But I've been using Comic Mono for 2 years now (SW developer) and forgot all about it. The mark of a truly great font.

navane• 2 years ago

I was ready to laugh, but instead I felt peacefull. There's a remarkable serenity to this font.

fishbacon• 2 years ago

I love the idea. But a quick test tells me it is not appropriate for anyone who uses any non-ascii characters. A shame.

Loved all the recommendations in this thread. I have been thinking about getting away from Source Code Pro for a while.

globular-toast• 2 years ago

I've yet to find a programming font better than Ubuntu Mono, but I definitely want to try this as it looks really nice. What's the difference between this and Comic Shanns Mono, though? There is a nerd font[0] available for the latter.

[0] https://www.nerdfonts.com/font-downloads

_blz2• 2 years ago

Iosevka is the one for me: https://www.programmingfonts.org/#iosevka

weinzierl2• 2 years ago

I have a thing for monospaced fonts and sans-serif.

What they all have in common is slab-like serifs on the i and j. It is not an easy problem to solve to make these two fit harmonically in their allotted space but does anyone know a monospace font that solved this issue in a different way?

BugsJustFindMe2• 2 years ago

Pointfree does it right by giving i and l friendly curves.

weinzierl2• 2 years ago

Very nice. Thanks a lot, that is good example of what I was looking for. To the curious, here is a link to the font:

https://luc.devroye.org/fonts-59663.html

elcapitan• 2 years ago

Ironically the strict spacing makes this much better legible than the original, at least for me.

tmtvl2• 2 years ago

Related: the SeriousShanns fork: https://kabeech.github.io/serious-shanns/

If nothing else, Serious adds the lambda symbol, which is a useful shorthand to use with Emacs' pretty symbols mode.

thoughtpeddler• 2 years ago

// Sublime Text Settings {"font_face": "Comic Mono"} :)

OrangeMusic• 2 years ago

It bothers me that they changed a lot of letters from the original Comic Sans. They even added serifs, which contradicts the "Sans", and the spirit of the original!

pkstn• 2 years ago

But why?!

blindstitch• 2 years ago

After trying out a few Nerd Font variants I found this one. V1 looks correct, the second version supposedly fixes some bugs but looks worse. https://github.com/xtevenx/ComicMonoNF

Comic Mono

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