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Google releases its new Google Sans Flex font as open source

236 points by CharlesW

by lucb1e

20 subcomments

Where possible, I've stopped picking fonts that don't distinguish lowercase l and uppercase I. Words virtually always have redundancy (or context in the sentence) and it's fine in 98% of cases, but too often someone sends a token, password, name, or other string where you need to copy it out to another application to see it and just... why? Why bother?
I/O test for Sans Flex: https://snipboard.io/wXCQq5.jpg
It passes the O0 distinction but not the Il one
Example of a font that passes, Ubuntu: https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Ubuntu?preview.text=10%20I... (custom license but looks similar to GPL in that you can do what you want besides relicensing it as proprietary or removing credits)
Another one, Nunito Sans, using the Open Font License: https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Nunito+Sans?preview.text=1...
IBM Plex Sans is another Open Font License option: https://fonts.google.com/specimen/IBM+Plex+Sans?preview.text... (it has an unusual capital Q style though)

by torbengee

7 subcomments

I've tried so many fonts in my coding life, but I think I've finally found my forever font: JetBrains Mono. Crisp, all characters distinguishable, slightly larger lowercase for better reading ...
I recently compared it once more to others – https://www.programmingfonts.org/ makes it easy to narrow down to your favourites one by one ... JetBrains Mono still wins. :)

by freedomben

1 subcomments

I don't love this new font as others have already pointed out, there's not enough distinction between some letters[1].
However, the general movement toward redistributable and license-friendly fonts is wonderful and I'm very happy to see it continue. As someone who has had to deal with font licensing hell in the past, having these available is a huge improvement. Even just setting up my personal linux systems and having actually usable fonts available is a massive improvement, before even getting into trying to build apps/websites/etc. Many thanks to Google and any others who are releasing these!
[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46247559 [2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46247693

by Svoka

1 subcomments

I am a simple person. Not a designer. But for all fonts I type 'iIlL0Oo' and if I can't tell what is what I skip it.
This font fails hard.

by xnx

2 subcomments

I hadn't noticed they added more font variable controls to Google Fonts: https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Google+Sans+Flex/tester

by hathawsh

3 subcomments

> as well as an axis for rounded terminals (as in terminals in letters, not command-line apps).
Now I want to see a rounded terminal (as in command-line apps, not terminals in letters.) Would I type in a circle? Sounds cool.

by tigranbs

0 subcomment

Ahh, this is great! Finally, I can use the `font-stretch` CSS property to make some text components more expressive.

by txtsd

0 subcomment

Open source? Where's the repo for its source code?

by alterom

0 subcomment

That's the kind of Flex I'm happy to see from corporations like Google.

by microflash

0 subcomment

There’s also Google Sans Code, the monospace companion of Google Sans family.
https://github.com/googlefonts/googlesans-code

by hbn

0 subcomment

Maybe a good excuse to get back into playing around with Coldtype again
https://coldtype.goodhertz.com/introduction.html

by elevaet

4 subcomments

Are there any great variable and open serif web fonts around?

by tasuki

0 subcomment

Not particularly imaginative/interesting? I don't see how it's better than say Roboto. And I'm not even that huge a fan of Roboto...

by numbers

2 subcomments

seems like a good step towards making a variable font that allows all forms of text b/c Apple already has SF (fka San Francisco) which has many variants.

by crazygringo

0 subcomment

I'm very confused. This is the font that matches the Google branding, and that they started using as a UX font in Gmail, Docs, etc.
I hate it in UX because it's so "geometric" -- works well for a logo, but not body text, so it's just a bizarre choice for UX. Unlike Roboto which continues to be great for that. (Google Sans is fine as display text though -- headings, logo, etc.)
But my understanding was that Google wanted to differentiate its first-party apps from other Android apps with a proprietary Google font.
But now they're opening that font up for everyone to use, so Google's apps will no longer look uniquely Google-branded.
I'm so confused what the heck is going on over there in Mountain View.

by tolerance

0 subcomment

I understand that there are many good reasons not to want to use fonts where the lowercase L and uppercase I are indistinguishable.
But am I the only one who actually prefers both to be relatively identical? Or at least the lowercase L must not have any quiggles or crooks? I like em both north-south. 12:30.
I think typically the I will be a little thicker than the i for regular (text? roman?) weights and below.

by aucisson_masque

3 subcomments

Does it matter ?
No really, I'm not trying to be edgy. Does the font we're using to read a document matters??
Last time I checked, scientist agreed that the best for an average user is the font you're used to. Serif, sans serif,.. didn't matter. Just keep using the one you always used.
So I don't get why every so often, Google work on a new font. Pick one and stick to it, user don't care.
Or am I missing something ?
BTW, personnel opinion but the only fonts i found to really look better than anything else were apple fonts. They don't make things easier to read but they just look so nice whereas Google always feel meh.

by mosura

0 subcomment

Now we all have high density screens serifs are going to make a comeback, if for no other reason than that new sans-serif fonts have developed this distinctly childish aura. This is not in the same league as Frutiger or Univers.

by copperx

3 subcomments

Great, but is it free of DEI? can it be used in official documents?