super annoying web design from a graphic design company to show a typeface that purports its goal is to "get out of the way" so you can be productive, why not show some calm examples of text as in a terminal at a normal typesize? I had to zoom out to 60% just to tame it, and yet there was still blinking all over the place and nothing that approximated anything other than a phone screen.
does something about this typeface set it apart in a useful way from the zillion other free or default monospaced options? If anything it seemed a little awkward with the flourishes they added toward making it look fauxCR-able. (an artistic flourish I like as "zany graphic fun" but is it helpful for extended use?)
for the people who love it, I've no problem with enjoying flourishes, but it's calling itself serious. I'm serious and it's not taking me seriously.
Fair criticism about samples, launching new update and it'll have better samples. Also, you're welcome to download the trial—best way to see how it looks in your specific setup.
I don't agree with your take on flourishes (in better terms, artistry). Every typeface has it. The process of designing a typeface is full of subjectivity and artistry.
Berkeley Mono is plain gorgeous. I bought it after five minutes of looking at the trial. Everything made so much sense when I saw the inspirations you listed - Eurostile, OCR-B and DIN 1451 all have a special place in my heart.
But what's more, your site in its entirety is a work of art, in form and function. So many details, from the one-click newsletter signup when logged in to the plain-English license intros. It makes me want to build a site for myself again, something I haven't done in over a decade.
To my own surprise I've even signed up for the newsletter, something I haven't done anywhere for even longer.
Thank you! Website is going to get doubly refined soon. I’d like to develop a UI framework one day, but one that never ever changes in its core design. It just gets refined over time. I must say, it’s a real pleasure to design websites. Not just frontend, but database, all the Django stuff, domain models, I love the whole thing.
The font needs work, especially Bold cut. I completely redesigned all glyphs from scratch and trying to get to release it. It's been a learning experience. Also condensed version is coming with it. All upgrades will be free to existing customers.
Btw, I agree with OP about good samples. It also bothers me a little bit when I see huge zoomed in shots of typefaces: Good for grabbing attention, but bad functionally unless it’s a display typeface specifically for billboard/headline use. So I will go to town with samples in 12 point size. We have a few but clearly not enough.
A UI framework would be a real treat, no doubt about it. And I know what you mean — I've always done full stack too, and love it. People who are serious about frontends should do their own backends, to horribly butcher Alan Kay.
As for the samples - for what its worth, what did it for me were the sections _Box drawing characters_ and _Exceptional legibility_. Just the telephone directory told me enough to download the trial.
It pains me that I will never be able to get my employer to spring for a commercial license - it would be a treat to rewrite our internal API documentation "Machine MX-4000"-style.
Woahhh, I've never played around with APL before. Such an interesting language: https://tryapl.org/
I think most of the glyphs are straightforward, the ones that would take time are the greek symbols. Unable to commit at this time, we're already behind with Berkeley v2 release by 6 months! :-(
To be sure APL is a niche (BQN even more so), and I personally am unlikely to be a customer regardless (it looks worth $75, i just don't program enough) so no pressure but it is one of the oldest programming languages and if you want to talk golden era...
$75 license. I assume they want people to be wow'ed by the unrealistic zoom shots, and pay money before realizing that it's little different from JetBrains Mono or Roboto Mono in a real-world editor or terminal.
This sort of comment is why I have a love/hate relationship with HN. Love, because yesterday I learned some amazing stuff that I told my partner about in bed.
Hate, because of the assumptions that so many people are so quick to jump to. You know nothing about this guy’s motivations. (His name’s Neil. I’ve spoken to him. He seems like a really solid dude. He probably has thicker skin than me.)
So you come in here and you imply that this thing is essentially a scam to rob you of $75. You imply that Neil is a scammer, trying to rob you of $75.
It’s really shitty and I wish people wouldn’t do it.
Edit: I’m not saying “don’t criticise the site”. If you don’t like the site, say so. But don’t criticise the motivations about which you know literally nothing.
Very much agree. What's wrong with computer people that they won't spend money on tools?! Especially since they are made by people in their own industry. Machinists (aka metalworkers) wouldn't sneer at other machinists and refuse to purchase their tools because someone else in their own industry dared to charge someone money for it.
But the very same people will happily work for an advertising company under the guise of being a programmer and take a wage and bonus. Right on.
I agree with you on the general principle. That said, software is kind of an odd duck in that huge amounts of valuable code are just given away for free to whomever wants it. How much would you pay for a shell? A better ls command? A mailserver? All of those require considerable effort to create, and yet people have made wonderful implementations of each of those and said here ya go, have it, enjoy!
I can understand the skepticism against a paid font. There are some pretty grand ones available for free to anyone who'd like to use them. In this case, it was worth the premium to me to pay anyway. I don't think someone's automatically a cheapskate for thinking I'm nuts to buy a license.
> I can understand the skepticism against a paid font.
Me too! But that's not what upset me. What upset me was the assumption of deceit in the parent post.
It's like drive-by shootings here sometimes; people see a thing, they don't like it, and they assume that the person creating it therefore has bad motives. I've been on the receiving end, directly, and it stinks. It makes this place worse.
I’m with you. You don’t like a thing that other people do? Nod and move on. I made a different purchase with my money than they would have, and that’s fine. I’d do it again. It was an unnecessary luxury, but no more than the nice dinner I had last night, and I’m still enjoying the font today.
Yup, lots of people here saying $75 is too much while they make multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars per year, never once stopping to consider how much effort a product like this takes. The irony is palpable.
Coincidentally I read a comment today along the lines of “at HN, Cynicism-is-Intelligence” which really hit the nail on the head for me. This isn’t at all a nice community, overall.
does something about this typeface set it apart in a useful way from the zillion other free or default monospaced options? If anything it seemed a little awkward with the flourishes they added toward making it look fauxCR-able. (an artistic flourish I like as "zany graphic fun" but is it helpful for extended use?)
for the people who love it, I've no problem with enjoying flourishes, but it's calling itself serious. I'm serious and it's not taking me seriously.