Improving the middle stem of small "m"

[IceMan81]

• Your font version: 3.0.0_rc.5
• Your font variant: standard and Ubuntu Mono variant

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This is not a bug, more like a suggestion to see if the middle stem of m can be made more visible and distinctive especially at small sizes. Many times I've found that the middle stem is not clearly distinguishable because the gap between the middle stem and side stems are too small. I've checked on multiple app like Sublime, Intellij, terminal mostly at size 14 on macOS.

I think if the gap can be increased a little bit somehow, it will be more readable. The same for the Ubuntu variant of 'm' with shorter middle stem. I find this variant a bit more readable but even this one could benefit from more breathing space between the stems.

Pardon me, if I'm asking for too much!

[be5invis]

Macintosh is always blurry /sigh.
The stroke widt is chosen to balance darkness between letters.
Changing them only for more clarity is not a very good justification.
Mark as post-3.0 enhancement.

[IceMan81]

@be5invis understood.
What about raising the middle stroke of m for the Ubuntu Mono variant to more closely match Ubuntu Mono? I think that would improve clarity. Would that change the balance of darkness?

[be5invis]

@IceMan81 There's already cv26 doing that.

[IceMan81]

@be5invis I was referring to the stroke length of cv26

[be5invis]

@IceMan81

Like this?

[wimstefan]

Very nice! Now the middle stem is on the same height as the middle center line from "e" and "a" ... that looks very nice indeed.
Thank you for that :)

[wimstefan]

I have to add though that the bold italic version is noticeably lighter in comparison to other glyphs ...

[IceMan81]

@be5invis Yes, I think this (your new version) looks a lot better than original one in the below screenshot.

@wimstefan Good observation!!

[IceMan81]

@wimstefan First time I really noticed the beauty of the back-slashed zero when I saw it in your screenshot. Using a back-slashed zero makes a clear distinction for a null set character as well. I think I'm going to use that going forward!

[IceMan81]

Screenshots from my build on a mac. I tried two different apps : Pages & Intellij. I do not see any stem darkness differences. These screenshots are from the Pages app.

[IceMan81]

Btw, the m looks really good!!!

[be5invis]

@IceMan81 I think @wimstefan extra-narrowed the width (or increased sidebearings...)?
Close this issue as fixed.

[wimstefan]

@IceMan81 I think @wimstefan extra-narrowed the width (or increased sidebearings...)?
Close this issue as fixed.

That's the case indeed @be5invis ...
I'm using

sb = 0.9
width = 0.9

which comes down to condensed I guess. I'd just prefer the more narrow looks if that's possible without compromising the thickness of m too much ...

[be5invis]

@wimstefan Please file another issue about this — though it will be definently be a post-3.0 thing.

[wimstefan]

@wimstefan Please file another issue about this — though it will be definently be a post-3.0 thing.

Sure - if you prefer to have an extra issue for that ...
I was just surprised that I noticed it only now and not before you shortened the middle stem.

[be5invis]

@wimstefan This is a different story and only happens on extra-condensed situations. Please file another issue.