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The Roboto family of fonts

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Noto fonts, except for CJK and emoji

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The Inter font family

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Mozilla's new typeface, used in Firefox OS

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Free monospaced font with programming ligatures

Sans serif font family for user interface environments

Quick Overview

Roboto is a neo-grotesque sans-serif typeface family developed by Google as the system font for Android. It's designed to be modern, approachable, and emotional, with a mechanical skeleton and largely geometric forms. The font is widely used across Google's ecosystem and is available for free use under the Apache License 2.0.

Pros

  • Open-source and freely available for use in both personal and commercial projects
  • Comprehensive font family with multiple weights and styles
  • Optimized for readability across various screen sizes and resolutions
  • Regularly updated and maintained by Google

Cons

  • May be overused due to its popularity, potentially leading to less unique designs
  • Some designers argue that it lacks character compared to more distinctive typefaces
  • Limited in terms of decorative or display styles within the family

Note: As this is a font repository and not a code library, the code examples and getting started instructions sections have been omitted.

Competitor Comparisons

Noto fonts, except for CJK and emoji

Pros of Noto Fonts

  • Extensive language support, covering a vast array of scripts and writing systems
  • Consistent design across all supported languages, ensuring visual harmony
  • Regular updates and additions to support new Unicode standards

Cons of Noto Fonts

  • Larger file sizes due to comprehensive character sets
  • May require more system resources when rendering complex scripts
  • Less specialized for specific use cases compared to Roboto's focus on readability

Code Comparison

Roboto:

@font-face {
  font-family: 'Roboto';
  src: url('Roboto-Regular.ttf') format('truetype');
  font-weight: normal;
  font-style: normal;
}

Noto Fonts:

@font-face {
  font-family: 'Noto Sans';
  src: url('NotoSans-Regular.ttf') format('truetype');
  font-weight: normal;
  font-style: normal;
}

Both repositories provide open-source font families, but they serve different purposes. Roboto is designed primarily for Android and web use, focusing on readability and modern aesthetics. Noto Fonts aims to cover all languages and scripts in Unicode, making it a more comprehensive solution for global typography needs. While Roboto offers a more streamlined experience for specific use cases, Noto Fonts provides unparalleled language support at the cost of larger file sizes and potentially more complex implementation.

17,552

The Inter font family

Pros of Inter

  • More modern and refined design, with a focus on readability across various screen sizes and resolutions
  • Extensive character set, supporting a wide range of languages and scripts
  • Active development with frequent updates and improvements

Cons of Inter

  • Smaller community and less widespread adoption compared to Roboto
  • May require more careful implementation to ensure optimal rendering across different platforms

Code Comparison

Inter:

body {
  font-family: 'Inter', sans-serif;
  font-feature-settings: 'liga' 1, 'calt' 1;
}

Roboto:

body {
  font-family: 'Roboto', sans-serif;
  font-weight: 400;
}

Both fonts can be easily implemented in CSS, but Inter offers more advanced OpenType features that can be enabled for enhanced typography.

Inter is a newer, more modern typeface with a focus on screen readability and extensive language support. It offers a fresh alternative to the widely-used Roboto, which has been a standard in many applications for years. While Inter provides more refined design and frequent updates, Roboto benefits from its established presence and broader adoption across various platforms and applications.

The choice between these fonts ultimately depends on the specific needs of the project, considering factors such as target audience, supported languages, and desired aesthetic.

5,035

Mozilla's new typeface, used in Firefox OS

Pros of Fira

  • More extensive language support, including Cyrillic and Greek
  • Includes a monospace variant (Fira Mono) for coding
  • Designed specifically for screen readability and UI/UX applications

Cons of Fira

  • Less widespread adoption compared to Roboto
  • Fewer weight variations available
  • May require more system resources due to larger font files

Code Comparison

Fira:

@font-face {
  font-family: 'Fira Sans';
  src: url('FiraSans-Regular.woff2') format('woff2');
  font-weight: normal;
  font-style: normal;
}

Roboto:

@font-face {
  font-family: 'Roboto';
  src: url('Roboto-Regular.woff2') format('woff2');
  font-weight: 400;
  font-style: normal;
}

Both repositories provide open-source font families, but they cater to slightly different needs. Fira, developed by Mozilla, offers a more comprehensive language support and includes a monospace variant, making it suitable for diverse applications, especially in coding environments. Roboto, created by Google, is more widely adopted and offers a greater variety of weights, making it a versatile choice for general web and mobile design. The code comparison shows similar implementation methods for both fonts, with minor differences in naming conventions.

77,016

Free monospaced font with programming ligatures

Pros of FiraCode

  • Designed specifically for programming with ligatures for common code sequences
  • Extensive language support, including Cyrillic and Greek
  • Regular updates and active community involvement

Cons of FiraCode

  • Limited style variations compared to Roboto's extensive family
  • May not be suitable for general-purpose text due to its programming-focused design
  • Larger file size due to ligature support

Code Comparison

FiraCode:

if (x == y) {
  return x !== null && y !== undefined;
}

Roboto:

if (x == y) {
  return x !== null && y !== undefined;
}

While the code appears identical, FiraCode would display ligatures for ==, !==, and =>, enhancing readability for programmers.

Key Differences

  • Purpose: FiraCode is tailored for coding, while Roboto is a versatile sans-serif font
  • Features: FiraCode offers programming ligatures, Roboto provides a wide range of weights and styles
  • Usage: FiraCode is primarily used in code editors and IDEs, Roboto is used in various applications, including Android OS

Popularity

  • FiraCode: ~66k GitHub stars, popular among developers
  • Roboto: ~3k GitHub stars, but widely used due to its inclusion in Android

Licensing

Both fonts are open-source:

  • FiraCode: SIL Open Font License 1.1
  • Roboto: Apache License 2.0

Pros of Montserrat

  • More diverse character set, including extended Latin and Cyrillic support
  • Wider range of weights and styles, offering greater design flexibility
  • Open-source development process with active community contributions

Cons of Montserrat

  • Less extensive documentation compared to Roboto
  • Fewer specialized variants (e.g., no condensed or monospace versions)
  • May have less consistent rendering across different platforms

Code Comparison

Montserrat:

@import url('https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Montserrat:wght@400;700&display=swap');

body {
  font-family: 'Montserrat', sans-serif;
}

Roboto:

@import url('https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Roboto:wght@400;700&display=swap');

body {
  font-family: 'Roboto', sans-serif;
}

Both fonts can be easily implemented using Google Fonts, with similar CSS code. The main difference lies in the font family name used in the font-family property.

Sans serif font family for user interface environments

Pros of Source Sans

  • More extensive character set, including support for Cyrillic and Greek
  • Offers multiple weights and styles, providing greater design flexibility
  • Open-source license allows for modification and redistribution

Cons of Source Sans

  • Less widespread adoption compared to Roboto
  • May require additional setup for web use, as it's not as readily available as Roboto through Google Fonts
  • Larger file size due to its extensive character set and multiple styles

Code Comparison

Source Sans implementation:

@font-face {
  font-family: 'Source Sans Pro';
  src: url('path/to/SourceSansPro-Regular.otf') format('opentype');
}

Roboto implementation:

@import url('https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Roboto&display=swap');

body {
  font-family: 'Roboto', sans-serif;
}

Both Source Sans and Roboto are popular open-source font families, each with its own strengths. Source Sans offers a more extensive character set and greater design flexibility, while Roboto benefits from widespread adoption and easy integration through Google Fonts. The choice between the two depends on specific project requirements, target audience, and design preferences.

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README

This is the source repository for Roboto: Google’s signature family of fonts, the default font on Android and Chrome OS, and the recommended font for Google’s visual language, Material Design.

It also contains the toolchain used in creating Roboto.

The font family supports all Latin, Cyrillic, and Greek characters in Unicode 7.0, as well as the currency symbol for the Georgian lari, to be published in Unicode 8.0.

The fonts are currently available in eighteen different styles.

Subsetted webfonts are also available from Google Fonts.

Setup

Create a clean directory for Roboto:

mkdir -p $HOME/roboto-src
cd $HOME/roboto-src

Download the Roboto tools and sources:

git clone https://github.com/google/roboto.git

Create a virtual Python environment (optional but recommended):

pip install --user virtualenv
virtualenv roboto-env
source roboto-env/bin/activate

Download and install the dependencies (currently requires Python 2, not 3):

cd roboto
pip install -r requirements.txt

Optional additional setup for running tests

Download the latest tarball release of HarfBuzz here and extract it into the home directory as $HOME/harfbuzz (alternatively, you can download the latest source from GitHub via git clone https://github.com/behdad/harfbuzz.git).

Build and install HarfBuzz:

cd $HOME/harfbuzz
./configure
make
sudo make install
cd $HOME/roboto-src/

On Ubuntu (or other distributions of GNU/Linux, using the appropriate package manager), make sure eog is installed:

sudo apt-get install eog

Run

cd roboto
make