up vote 1 down vote favorite
1
share [g+] share [fb]

In an older thread on best programming fonts, I'm reading:

Fixedsys is just Microsoft's ugly bastardization of the One True Font (System 8x12). Seriously, for a "programmer's font", I don't see how you can seriously suggest anything but the traditional terminal font, white on black.

My question: What is this font, where can I get it?

link|improve this question
56% accept rate
feedback

2 Answers

up vote 4 down vote accepted

That's the default Raster font used in the command line. I believe "System Bold" is the same thing, but I strongly recommend Consolas.

link|improve this answer
1  
I <3 Consolas. It makes me happy. – Chris_K Oct 8 '09 at 17:16
Consolas is a great font, it's what I use. But when I was doing my own research on fonts, I found that it's only good when paired with ClearType. There's good reading on the topic here: codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000969.html – Lord Torgamus Oct 8 '09 at 18:51
I'm currently indeed using Consolas as a replacement for Fixedsys (my preference for monospace which Google Chrome fails to load), but on this laptop, where ClearType looks blurred, using Consolas without ClearType causes a bit of a blurred effect too -- letters often seemingly merge together on their edges, making it harder to read. I was hoping for the One True Font to solve the "blurred" issues... – Philipp Lenssen Oct 9 '09 at 2:40
Why would anyone turn ClearType off? @Philipp: That's OK, if pixelated is better than blurred for you. – tsilb Oct 9 '09 at 13:32
Tsilb, it looks blurred to me on this notebook, so I'm using standard anti-aliasing for some programs and no anti-aliasing at all when editing programs (I use Fixedsys, which I find very readable for programming). By the way, I'm also making a lot of screenshots for blogging, for which it is better to turn off ClearType, as Wikipedia explains (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ClearType#Display_requirements). – Philipp Lenssen Oct 11 '09 at 9:44
feedback
up vote 1 down vote

The font in question isn't called One True Font. It's called System in 8x12 size. And you still have it on windows, I reckon.

I'm not sure what the author of that quote is raving about. For one, older fonts where exclusively bitmapped and operated under very small resolutions. It's only natural they were all very similar to each other. On the other hand he suggest he's right and everybody else is wrong on what should be the best font for a programmer. So his opinion ceases to interest me.

link|improve this answer
Yeah! Besides which, everyone know that the One True Font is fixed6x13. – wfaulk Oct 8 '09 at 18:17
1  
I thought the One True Font was EnronBeelzebub2x4 ;-) myfonts.com/WhatTheFont/forum/viewthread.php?threadid=153534 – DaveParillo Oct 8 '09 at 20:36
feedback

Your Answer

 
or
required, but never shown
discard

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.