Input Mono VS Apple Font Tool Suite

Apple Font Tool Suite

A suite of tools for working with font files.

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2023-09-23

Landing page //
2023-06-27

Apple Font Tool Suite

Website: developer.apple.com

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Input Mono features and specs

Legibility
Input Mono is designed with a focus on clear distinguishability of characters, which enhances reading comfort, especially for coding where character misidentification can lead to errors.
Customization
The font offers extensive customization options, allowing users to adjust weight, width, and line height among other features, to suit personal preferences or specific requirements.
Open-source Availability
Input Mono is available under an open-source license, making it freely accessible for modification and integration into various projects without licensing issues.
Technical Design
It has been designed specifically for users working in technical environments, with glyphs that support programming and eliminate common confusion with similar-looking characters.

Possible disadvantages of Input Mono

Complexity of Choices
The many customization options can be overwhelming, especially for users who prefer a simple, ready-to-use font, or those who find the selection process tedious.
Aesthetic Preference
While the font is technically optimized, its aesthetic might not appeal to everyone, especially those who prioritize style or visual design over practicality in their font choice.
Web font Support
Some users may experience challenges when integrating Input Mono as a web font, potentially requiring additional steps to ensure full compatibility across different browsers.

Apple Font Tool Suite features and specs

Comprehensive Toolset
The Apple Font Tool Suite provides a wide range of tools that are useful for font development, including font validation, conversion, and manipulation, making it a versatile option for type designers.
High Integration with Apple Ecosystem
Being developed by Apple, the suite is highly compatible and integrated with Apple’s technology stack, which is beneficial for developers working within the Apple ecosystem.
Optimization for Apple Platforms
The tools are optimized for creating fonts that perform well on Apple's platforms, ensuring that fonts display beautifully and efficiently on macOS, iOS, and other Apple devices.
Free and Easily Accessible
The font tools are freely available to developers, providing a cost-effective solution for those looking to develop and fine-tune typefaces without extra expenses.

Possible disadvantages of Apple Font Tool Suite

Limited Cross-Platform Support
The suite is primarily designed for use on Apple's operating systems, which limits its usability for developers who work across multiple, non-Apple platforms.
Steep Learning Curve
For those unfamiliar with font development or Apple's toolsets, there may be a steep learning curve to effectively use all the features provided in the suite.
Limited Community Support
Since it is a specialized tool from Apple, there may be limited community-based support and resources compared to more universally used font development tools.
Restricted Customization Options
The focus on Apple platforms may restrict certain customization options that are available in other more general-purpose font toolsets, limiting flexibility for some users.

Input Mono videos

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Exploring Monospaced Fonts: A Fontribute of Input Mono

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Input Mono and Apple Font Tool Suite)

Apple Font Tool Suite

Typography

84 84%

Typography

16% 16

Design Tools

0 0%

Design Tools

100% 100

Design

100 100%

Design

0% 0

Tool

100 100%

Tool

0% 0

User comments

Share your experience with using Input Mono and Apple Font Tool Suite. For example, how are they different and which one is better?

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Apple Font Tool Suite should be more popular than Input Mono. It has been mentiond 81 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Input Mono mentions (35)

Coding Font Selection 'Tournament'
DejaVu is one of my favorites, and it is odd to not see it included. Input Mono [1] by David Jonathan Ross is what I use these days. It's very similar to DejaVu, but I like it better because its geometry is a little rounder. DejaVu's "m" is very narrow, and it has fewer serifs (l, i, etc.), but it also has a serif version for those who want that (it's still very "sans"). It comes in many weights and has a... - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
Monaspace
Seems like in modern times, on modern systems, we can move beyond monospaced fonts for code. I have recommended this many times here, but I use a proportional coding font: Input Sans https://input.djr.com. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
B612 Font Family
Yes I ran into problem with distinguishing between ; and : as well on this monospace font. I'll say it was fun to try it and I used it for awhile but it isnt suitable for coding purposes. Im much more happy now with a highly customizable font like Input[0] where I can make it as wide or as narrow as I like it to be and also customize the various characters [0]: https://input.djr.com/. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
Bad Apple Font
Does your browser have a "Reader" mode? There are font systems that target code and aren't monospace. An example is Input: https://input.djr.com/ - https://input.djr.com/preview/ The niche seems to be people who like to code without monospace, or who present code without monospace, e.g. In slides or in blog posts. Or if you want typographical consistency between non-code and code, as I understand you are suggesting. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
FiraCode: Free monospaced font with programming ligatures
I’ve used Ligaturizer [2] to update the font to include ligatures. I believe the ligatures are even taken from FiraCode itself. I wonder how it’s fitting it to the width of a character as it’s much narrower, but still monospaced. - [1] https://input.djr.com/. - Source: Hacker News / almost 2 years ago

Apple Font Tool Suite mentions (81)

SN Pro Typeface
I've found I like SF Pro from Apple, and Iosevka from Belleve Invis. SF Pro especially is really nice for UI elements, and Iosevka is great for coding and terminal work. https://developer.apple.com/fonts/ https://typeof.net/Iosevka/ I'm curious as to how you perceive those 2 font families? - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
Berkeley Mono Typeface
This does look very nice! Still, I often go back to what I know and what I got used to as the default on the OS. So, as a macOS user, I work with Apple's SF Mono:
```
  https://developer.apple.com/fonts/.
```
- Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
Is there any way to get the built-in variable SF Pro font as a file?
Edit: I got a comment here mentioning that the file is stored on /System/Library/Fonts/SFNS.ttf, and its included in the SF Pro font package as SF-Pro.ttf. Source: over 1 year ago
Changing font to Apple's San Francisco font family?
Is there a way to change all my notes to use Apple's San Francisco fonts available on their website? Source: almost 2 years ago
Could anyone tell me what is this font? Thank you :)
Hmm.. I think it's either SF Pro Bold or Inter Bold (tbh those two fonts look really similar). Source: almost 2 years ago