monaspace

# Monaspace

The Monaspace type system is a monospaced type superfamily with some modern tricks up its sleeve. It consists of five variable axis typefaces. Each one has a distinct voice, but they are all metrics-compatible with one another, allowing you to mix and match them for a more expressive typographical palette.

Letters on a grid is how we see our code. Why not make those letters better?

✨ An exploration from [GitHub Next](https://githubnext.com). ✨ See the full story of Monaspace at [monaspace.githubnext.com](https://monaspace.githubnext.com).

🔤 **[Download the latest release](https://github.com/githubnext/monaspace/releases/latest)** 🔤

![image](https://github.com/githubnext/monaspace/assets/22723/301020e0-f138-44af-abb1-48efa610be08)


## Overview

Monaspace is five interchangable type families, each of which is packaged into three distinct formats. You can install all of them side-by-side; their family names are distinct by family and format. For example:

- `Monaspace _____`: the static family.
- `Monaspace _____ Var` or `VF`: the variable family
- `Monaspace _____ NF`: static families patched with [NerdFonts](https://www.nerdfonts.com/)
- `Monaspace _____ Frozen`: the "frozen" TTF family. These fonts enable all of the typographical features ("stylistic sets") in Monaspace by default. They are intended to be used in environments where you might not be able to configure stylistic sets or character variants, like XCode or IntelliJ IDEs. See more about how the frozen fonts work below.

The variable fonts have one file per family (Neon, Argon, etc.). Modern and convenient!

The static fonts have one file per cut, per family. The variable axes have named stops for each axis, like `light` or `bold` for weight, `italic` for italics, and `semiwide` or `wide` for width. The combinatorial explosion of all these properties means the complete installation of static fonts involves hundreds of font files. But for situations that don't yet support variable fonts, the static builds give you a wide variety of stops throughout the range of each axis.

## Texture Healing

Monaspace pioneered the technique of "texture healing" for monospaced fonts:

![Texture Healing Example](<docs/images/ReadmeTextureHealing.png>)

Texture healing is enabled when the `calt` font feature setting is turned on in your editor. The location for this setting varies across applications, and not all applications support it. See the [Editors](#editors) section below for specific guidance.

You can read more about how it works on the [Monaspace website](http://monaspace.githubnext.com), and learn how it is implemented in the [documentation](https://github.com/githubnext/monaspace/blob/main/docs/Texture%20Healing.md).

## Nerd Fonts

As of Monaspace 1.2, the static font builds (both desktop and web) offer versions patched with [Nerd Fonts](https://www.nerdfonts.com/)!

Monaspace gives a lot of consideration to horizontal and vertical metrics of a font, and Nerd Fonts are thousa