Sweeten your source with the best monospaced fonts

Programmers like me spend all day looking at code, so it makes sense to take a few minutes to find the font that works best for you. The problem is that, for whatever reason, monospaced fonts (the fonts used to display code, in which all characters have the same width) have always been difficult to track down.

Thankfully, Trevor Lowing has done the hard yards and assembled comparative bullet-point reviews of what he considers to be the top monospaced fonts. You can read his assessment of each font, preview it in a code-oriented screenshot, and even compare the fonts side-by-side.

Download links are provided for all the fonts he reviews, which suggests he has confined his review to freely available fonts.

His top choice of Bitstream Vera Sans Monospaced is a little narrow for me, but Apple’s Monaco (4th place) is certainly a pleasant change from Courier New. jEdit, my editor of choice has never looked better!

Which is your favourite?