My favorite fonts
I hate getting an I
confused with an l
confused with a 1
, so I usually favor serif fonts. But, I have to admit that for user interfaces like websites (with links and buttons and icons), sans-serif fonts work better.
For this site and generally I use IBM Plex Sans, which I love because it’s open-source and has a crossed I
and disambiguated l/1
.
For monospace applications like displaying and working with tabular source code I use Berkeley Mono, which I love for much the same reasons and because it feels comfortable on my eyes. It was the first font I’ve ever paid for, but I appreciate how much time the author has put into it and I do love how it looks.
For serif applications (like book text), I prefer the Libertinus font because it is open-source and has some lovely little flourishes. I used to use this font everywhere until I realized that sans-serif fonts looks better for interfaces.
I used to think that loading custom fonts on a site was a waste of bandwidth, but I’ve come around to the idea that sites should all be personalized and I just actually think some fonts are better than others.
Josh Beckman