This struck me as well. There seems to be something magical about finding a good aesthetic within the router's constraints (sharp intersections but rounded line endings).
It fits with my theory about why APL's glyphs look "better" to me than newer unicode-based symbol languages like (BQN, Uiua, etc). I think it's because APL's symbols were developed to be hand-written on chalkboards. Those constraints are much more severe compared to a purely computer-based font.
I watched the animation of the a and now I can't unsee the fact that the adjustments stop it looking like it was routed.
rawling
8 days ago
I used one of the linked fonts (Gorton digital) back when I was doing business cards for myself. That run of cards taught me two very important lessons:
* Always print a 1:1 bordered in black version of a design
* No matter how hard you try, you will notice some flaw in your design when you have already sent off an order for 100 of them.
indrora
8 days ago
Quite nice. Similar to B612.
> B612 is an highly legible open source font family designed and tested to be used on aircraft cockpit screens.
Heads up for macOS users - if you download it and click on install, it won't appear automatically in the font list as it isn't listed as an "English" font (assuming your OS language is that). It's under all other fonts. So just bring up the good old font selector ("Show fonts") and it will appear, as expected.
sgt
8 days ago
It looks best in all-caps, since that's what the diagrams that used the lettering sets used. You can get a good sense of how it looks with the Unicode table:
Not free, but the "Technic", "Simplex" and "ISOCP" fonts included with AutoCAD are also of this aesthetic, if people want an exhaustive list of candidates.
hlandau
9 days ago
For single-stroke (AKA "routed") fonts of various aesthetics, look up SHX font files. I'm not sure what the license status is, but they're easy to find online. I use them for laser cutting.
alanbernstein
9 days ago
I’ve tried to find “the autocad font” so many times before. Thank you!
masspro
8 days ago
Thank you for this, it's brilliant! I have spent days drawing the wiring diagram for a modified 1961 MG MGA using LucidChart. The fonts available just didn't look great. I uploaded Routed Gothic and now it looks very natural and original. Great work on the font!
Feels ever so slightly too bold to me, but maybe that is just my personal taste..
Other than that it is great to live in a time where people go to old typography and try to preserve our draw inspiration from it.
atoav
9 days ago
This reminds me of the font Roland used on their 80s synth service manual schematics. Maybe it's the same?
elevaet
9 days ago
Always a sucker for a new font, but this one is great.
New Programming/CLI font. Thanks
ForOldHack
9 days ago
1Il (one, upper case i, lower case L) all seem to look alike in this font. For me, that disqualifies it as a coding font.
filmor
9 days ago
See also nationalparktypeface.com which has a similar asthetic and motivation.
soggypretzels
9 days ago
And is being linked to and referenced on the page.
sdoering
9 days ago
I wonder who originally authored the font, and when it was created. The site cites Leroy Lettering as the likely origin, so presumably it was someone there?
pcwalton
9 days ago
In what sense is this font "Gothic"?
There are Gothic people, there's the Gothic language and the Gothic alphabet...
As https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Asian_Gothic_typeface says, "Gothic" in the context of typography is "type style characterized by strokes of even thickness and lack of decorations akin to sans serif styles in Western typography".
I like those typefaces where people try to recreate/transpose/keep alive a quite physical impression into the digital realm.
I always think fondly about the font Brian [1] by Jon Hicks recreating his late father’s (I think architectural) writing.
[1]: https://hicks.design/shop/bryan
sdoering
9 days ago
This struck me as well. There seems to be something magical about finding a good aesthetic within the router's constraints (sharp intersections but rounded line endings).
It fits with my theory about why APL's glyphs look "better" to me than newer unicode-based symbol languages like (BQN, Uiua, etc). I think it's because APL's symbols were developed to be hand-written on chalkboards. Those constraints are much more severe compared to a purely computer-based font.
hoosieree
8 days ago
The Dijkstra one is fun. https://rrt.sc3d.org/Design/Font/Dijkstra/
afandian
9 days ago
Oh that's nice! I like to use handwriting fonts for coding, I might try this one.
card_zero
9 days ago
Oh my, that's so far off of my preferences of coding fonts. Do you have an example screenshot of what that looks like?
starquake
8 days ago
Sure. I found a font called "Guillermonkey", it disambiguates upper case i, lower case L, and 1, and it has slashed zeroes, and looks kinda cheerful.
https://ibb.co/s15QMpH
card_zero
8 days ago
This is such a beautiful story, thanks for sharing!
nsriv
8 days ago
I liked another font linked on this page even more:
National Park Typeface: https://nationalparktypeface.com/
And the website is really nice
ivanjermakov
9 days ago
I watched the animation of the a and now I can't unsee the fact that the adjustments stop it looking like it was routed.
rawling
8 days ago
I used one of the linked fonts (Gorton digital) back when I was doing business cards for myself. That run of cards taught me two very important lessons:
* Always print a 1:1 bordered in black version of a design
* No matter how hard you try, you will notice some flaw in your design when you have already sent off an order for 100 of them.
indrora
8 days ago
Quite nice. Similar to B612.
> B612 is an highly legible open source font family designed and tested to be used on aircraft cockpit screens.
[1] https://b612-font.com/
arh68
8 days ago
Heads up for macOS users - if you download it and click on install, it won't appear automatically in the font list as it isn't listed as an "English" font (assuming your OS language is that). It's under all other fonts. So just bring up the good old font selector ("Show fonts") and it will appear, as expected.
sgt
8 days ago
It looks best in all-caps, since that's what the diagrams that used the lettering sets used. You can get a good sense of how it looks with the Unicode table:
https://webonastick.com/fonts/routed-gothic/unicode-coverage...
Rendello
12 days ago
Very nice!
Not free, but the "Technic", "Simplex" and "ISOCP" fonts included with AutoCAD are also of this aesthetic, if people want an exhaustive list of candidates.
hlandau
9 days ago
For single-stroke (AKA "routed") fonts of various aesthetics, look up SHX font files. I'm not sure what the license status is, but they're easy to find online. I use them for laser cutting.
alanbernstein
9 days ago
I’ve tried to find “the autocad font” so many times before. Thank you!
masspro
8 days ago
Thank you for this, it's brilliant! I have spent days drawing the wiring diagram for a modified 1961 MG MGA using LucidChart. The fonts available just didn't look great. I uploaded Routed Gothic and now it looks very natural and original. Great work on the font!
paulstovell
8 days ago
Comic Sans (non-derogatory) for engineers
object-a
9 days ago
"Formal Comic Sans" was my first thought too!
seabombs
8 days ago
The Hershey fonts come to mind: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hershey_fonts
flobosg
8 days ago
Feels ever so slightly too bold to me, but maybe that is just my personal taste..
Other than that it is great to live in a time where people go to old typography and try to preserve our draw inspiration from it.
atoav
9 days ago
This reminds me of the font Roland used on their 80s synth service manual schematics. Maybe it's the same?
elevaet
9 days ago
Always a sucker for a new font, but this one is great. New Programming/CLI font. Thanks
ForOldHack
9 days ago
1Il (one, upper case i, lower case L) all seem to look alike in this font. For me, that disqualifies it as a coding font.
filmor
9 days ago
See also nationalparktypeface.com which has a similar asthetic and motivation.
soggypretzels
9 days ago
And is being linked to and referenced on the page.
sdoering
9 days ago
I wonder who originally authored the font, and when it was created. The site cites Leroy Lettering as the likely origin, so presumably it was someone there?
pcwalton
9 days ago
In what sense is this font "Gothic"?
There are Gothic people, there's the Gothic language and the Gothic alphabet...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_alphabet
... but that doesn't sound relevant.
einpoklum
9 days ago
It's not serif.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sans-serif
maxerickson
8 days ago
As https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Asian_Gothic_typeface says, "Gothic" in the context of typography is "type style characterized by strokes of even thickness and lack of decorations akin to sans serif styles in Western typography".
ElectricalUnion
8 days ago
(dupe)
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30190397
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22399161
slater
12 days ago
Previously discussed, but not really a duplicate by HN standards since the last post was over two years ago:
> If a story has not had significant attention in the last year or so, a small number of reposts is ok. Otherwise we bury reposts as duplicates.
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html
Rendello
12 days ago