Consolas is one of a set of new ClearType fonts that shipped as part of Windows Vista and Office 2007.
It's absolutely beautiful. I love to code in it.
The problem: no applications seem to be smart enough to use it by default. In this post, I'll go through all the places I use monospaced fonts
Visual Studio
Tools->Options->Environment->Fonts and Colors
Set "Plain Text" under "Display Items" to Consolas.
Firefox
Tools->Options
Under the Content tab, in the "Fonts & Colors" box, pick "Advanced". In Monospace, pick Consolas.
Internet Explorer
Tools->Internet Options
General tab, under Appearance, pick 'Fonts'.
Under "Plain text font:" pick Consolas.
.NET Reflector
View->Options
Under 'Appearance', 'Code Font': Consolas.
CMD.EXE
(Thanks to Walter for pointing this out to me.)
Yes, even the command window. If you're running Vista, make sure to run this command 'elevated'. You'll have to restart your machine before the setting takes effect.
reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Console\TrueTypeFont" /v 00 /d Consolas
Next, right click on the command window header and pick 'Properties'. You'll probably want to up the font size, too.
And there you go. All your most important applications using the nicest monospaced font.
Happy hacking!
5 comments:
Consolas is available for Windows XP -- it's included in the download of "Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats"
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=941B3470-3AE9-4AEE-8F43-C6BB74CD1466&displaylang=en
There is very old drop on MSD called: "Consolas Font Pack for Microsoft Visual Studio 2005" http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=22e69ae4-7e40-4807-8a86-b3d36fab68d3
You may not believe, but the monospace fonts (Courier New, Consolas) have no benefit over porportional fonts (Arial, Times).
And as proportional fonts are more natural and easy reading, they are better choise for coding as well. Especially, because proportional fonts make better use of horizontal space (nobody likes horizontal scrolling anyway).
Actually, I prefer Candara, as it's very calm, crisp and clear and has no cool stuff. Georgia would do as well.
Try it yourself.
Thanks for the heads up on that font. Very nice.
If you think that monospace fonts don't have a purpose in programming you haven't been coding for very long. I can see how you would say you prefer proportional fonts but saying monospace has no use is very naïve of you.
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