Inkredible

I spend hours a day reading. Whether it’s posts, articles or code, I read A LOT.

A while ago, I discovered my reading could become much easier. As an added bonus, I learned I could also reduce my printing costs.

So, what do the two have in common? Fonts. It turns out there are really good fonts out there. These fonts have distinct advantages over the defaults we use.

Back in 2014, there was a trending story. It was about a kid who figured the American government could save millions. All they had to do was switch the font of their printed documents to Garamond. This has since been debunked, but the story did bring the topic to people’s attention.

Nowadays, we have eco-friendly fonts (see Ryman Eco, for example). These fonts consume less ink, and so print faster. They also require less electricity and reduce the frequency at which we have to buy new ink.

We also have fonts designed for better legibility. Can you tell the difference between 1, l and I? Or between O and 0? If you can’t, blame your font.

Distinguishing between different characters is especially crucial if you’re a developer. Luckily, most IDEs (integrated development environment. A fancy way to say a code editor on steroids) allow you to change fonts. Try out Fira Code or Input.

Well, that’s all I have to say about fonts. I hope you have a pleasant reading experience and enjoy the printing spree!