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"Hack" Typeface Is Open Source, Easy On the IDEs

Posted by timothy on from the get-it-easy-on-the-eye-dee-never-mind dept.

Ars Technica writes that "At SourceFoundry.org this week, programmer Chris Simpkins debuted the 2.0 version of Hack, an open-source typeface designed specifically for use in source code." The revamped font is "characterized by a large x-height, wide aperture, and low contrast design in order to be 'highly legible' at common coding text sizes," and the font specimen shows how legible it is right down to downright tiny sizes, though Simpkins says the sweet spot is between 8 and 12 pixels. Hack's roots are in the libre, open source typeface community, and the project expands upon the contributions of the Bitstream Vera & DejaVu projects. ... Simpkins has been working on the project throughout 2015, and he tweeted that this latest version includes "new open type features, changes in weights, significant changes in spacing, Powerline glyphs, and more." The typeface now comes with four font styles: Regular, Bold, Oblique, and Bold Oblique.

38 of 211 comments (clear)

  1. That's great and all... by beelsebob · · Score: 4, Interesting

    But where can I see it? Where's the damn link?

    1. Re:That's great and all... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Linky here: http://sourcefoundry.org/hack/

      Is there a point to having editors on slashdot anymore?

    2. Re:That's great and all... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 3, Funny

      If you have to ask, turn in your hacker creds and don't let the door hit your ass on the way out. :)

    3. Re:That's great and all... by fisted · · Score: 2

      You see, it's open source and all.

      That said, does anyone know how to build that font from source? Nothing about it on their website, or in the README...

      --
      CLI paste? paste.pr0.tips!
  2. Link by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Fantastic, an article without links...

    I know we don't read articles around here, but are we ready to give up even the pretense?

  3. Gotta love that link... by WolphFang · · Score: 2

    Gotta love that link to the original article ...

    --
    leather-dog muksihs
    Blog: @muksihs
  4. Here's the article by innocent_white_lamb · · Score: 4, Informative

    I know I know.. nobody reads the article. But here's the link:

    http://arstechnica.com/informa...

    --
    If you're a zombie and you know it, bite your friend!
    1. Re:Here's the article by phantomfive · · Score: 4, Informative

      It's a simple, clean font.
      He took special care to make sure l,I, and 1 all look different, as well as 0, O.
      Looks good at low resolution.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    2. Re:Here's the article by AmiMoJo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The site renders the font in the browser, which often looks different to the IDE. Would be nice to have samples from different operating systems.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    3. Re:Here's the article by Misagon · · Score: 4, Interesting

      That looks exactly like the font that is already used as default fixed-width font in my five-year-old install of Ubuntu ...

      --
      "We mustn't be caught by surprise by our own advancing technology" -- Aldous Huxley
    4. Re:Here's the article by flargleblarg · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I would like this font a lot more if the zero had a slash through it instead of that ridiculous ellipse in the center.

    5. Re:Here's the article by pedantic+bore · · Score: 3, Informative

      The underscores are awful. Almost invisible.

      --
      Am I part of the core demographic for Swedish Fish?
    6. Re:Here's the article by gnupun · · Score: 2

      It's a simple, clean font.

      Yes, more open source copycatting proprietary software as "hack" looks like a direct ripoff of Monaco or Menlo fonts found in OS X. How did they get past the copyright lawyers? Although I read somewhere on slashdot that fonts are not copyrightable in the US.

    7. Re:Here's the article by lucm · · Score: 4, Funny

      I like the way it looks good all the way down to 8pt, and is legible even in 7pt. Not that I'll be reading such tiny code, but many quite a few otherwise-excellent fonts I've looked at over the last few years seem to go a bit funny below 12pt.

      I love 7pt fonts, they allow me to pack a lot more regex in my Perl one-liners.

      --
      lucm, indeed.
    8. Re:Here's the article by arglebargle_xiv · · Score: 2

      It's a simple, clean font.
      He took special care to make sure l,I, and 1 all look different, as well as 0, O.
      Looks good at low resolution.

      So what you're saying is that it's like Inconsolata, but fourteen years late, and slashvertised.

    9. Re:Here's the article by paulatz · · Score: 2

      It's a simple, clean font.

      Yes, more open source copycatting proprietary software as "hack" looks like a direct ripoff of Monaco or Menlo fonts found in OS X. How did they get past the copyright lawyers? Although I read somewhere on slashdot that fonts are not copyrightable in the US.

      Menlo is based upon the Open Source font Bitstream Vera and the public domain font Deja Vu (info embedded inside the font itself).

      --
      this post contain no useful information, no need to mod it down
  5. It's a hacked Deja Vu by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    It's Deja Vu Sans Mono with some questionable changes to glyph shapes, sizes, and spacing. There's a sore lack of comparison with other programming fonts; Ars is making it out as though we've all been stuck on Courier New until this point, but that's ridiculous. I'd like to see a comparison with, e.g., Consolas, Deja Vu Sans Mono, Courier New, and others.

    1. Re:It's a hacked Deja Vu by nmb3000 · · Score: 5, Informative

      It's Deja Vu Sans Mono with some questionable changes to glyph shapes, sizes, and spacing.

      This is exactly what it is. Hack is nothing more than Deja Vu Sans Mono with some crappy amateur edits. For example, the line in the zero, the changes to the i and a -- all are horrible. I also don't like the increased vertical height, since the widescreen monitor plague has made vertical space a premium. I can only assume Hack came from someone grabbing the source for Deja Vu and messing around with it.

      Here are some examples of commonly recommended programming fonts, if you want to compare (open in new tabs for easy comparison):

      Hack
      Deja Vu Sans Mono
      Consolas
      Lucida Console
      Anonymous Pro

      I primarily use Deja Vu and Consolas, depending on what I'm doing. There's no way I'd switch either of them to Hack.

      --
      "What do you despise? By this are you truly known." --Princess Irulan, Manual of Muad'Dib
      /)
  6. no comic sans??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Does this mean I have to abandon comic sans for my Visual basic coding in MS VS??

  7. Adobe Source Code Pro by redfood · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It looks similar to Adobe Source Code Pro.

    Similar design goals . Also open source on github.

    To my eyes Source Code Pro looks more refined.

  8. Re:SubjectsInCommentsAreStupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It's a monospace font... How can you shout about kerning?

  9. Slashvertisements by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Please no more of these. I stopped going to that tech toilet Hacker News because of all the "my dumb product and how it's revolutionary" pseudo news bullshit.

  10. Re:here's your "coding" font by aix+tom · · Score: 2

    Here is "my" coding font:

    http://www.fixedsysexcelsior.c...

    That's the font that was there when I first started GW-Basic back in the days, that's the font I have kept. ;-)

  11. is it me? or... by Pharago · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...does it feel like another deja-vú

  12. Re:What is it with font developers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    ClearType makes use of the fact that a 1920x1080 color screen has 5760x1080 monochrome elements. It shows more detail. I suspect the PEBKAC.

  13. animated gif which shows the plagiarism by ballyhoo · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This animation shows DejaVu Sans mono vs Hack.

    http://i.imgur.com/8SqL6mT.gif

    Hack is the image with the red square

    #awkward #ripoff

  14. elastic tabstops by GodWasAnAlien · · Score: 3, Informative

    If editors would support elastic tabstops, then we would not be limited to fixed width fonts for code.

  15. Re:SubjectsInCommentsAreStupid by flargleblarg · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Keming problem?? It's a monospace font, dude. Keming is a non-issue.

    Leading, on the other hand, is a problem for me with this font. Too much leading (inter-line spacing). I want it a lot tighter vertically.

  16. So is a 1911 shotgun by laurencetux · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The point of this is being effective not pretty

  17. Re:Proportional Fonts by phantomfive · · Score: 2

    Looks good to me, but I use a proportional font for coding because it's easier for me to read

    That sounds ridiculous to me, but hey, whatever floats your boat.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  18. Re:SubjectsInCommentsAreStupid by sdxxx · · Score: 2

    This is terrible for a laptop without a lot of vertical screen height. Because of all the extra space between lines for this font, I lose a whole line of text on my laptop compared to DejaVu Sans Mono at the same size (and width). Looks okay on the big screen, though.

  19. Re:SubjectsInCommentsAreStupid by iggymanz · · Score: 2

    too much of letters can be too close in a monospace; in fact it takes a particular kind of fail to screw kerning up for a monospace font but they did

  20. Re:Proportional Fonts by rbrander · · Score: 3, Funny

    You're far too tolerant. These "proportionalists" are the enemy of our freedoms and must all be hunted down and lynched. Even vi and emacs combatants must declare a truce and form a united front. Only monospacers are the True Faith.

  21. Slashed O by tepples · · Score: 4, Informative

    Ø is a letter, not a number.

  22. Original Mac fonts' copyrights have expired by tepples · · Score: 2

    The article states that some countries recognize exclusive rights in typefaces for terms ranging from 14 to 25 years. Monaco and the other original Mac fonts came out in 1984.

    Digital outline fonts (.ttf, .otf) are subject to ordinary copyright as computer programs because there is more room for originality in control point placement and hint programming.

  23. You're thinking of DejaVu Mono by tepples · · Score: 3, Informative

    That's because five years ago, Ubuntu was shipping with DejaVu Mono, and Hack's website admits that it's a modified DejaVu Mono.

    1. Re:You're thinking of DejaVu Mono by gfxguy · · Score: 2

      Yeah... I switched my editor to Hack and thought it didn't work at first, so I switched it to something crazy just to be sure. Sure enough, "monospace" and "hack" on Ubuntu are almost exactly the same.

      --
      Stupid sexy Flanders.
  24. Terminus Forever by pafein · · Score: 2

    I've been using Terminus for about a decade and you can rip it from cold, RSI'd hands.

    --
    --Pete