When comparing MT Andale Mono vs Bitstream Vera Sans Mono, the Slant community recommends MT Andale Mono for most people. In the question“What are the best programming fonts?” MT Andale Mono is ranked 32nd while Bitstream Vera Sans Mono is ranked 69th. The most important reason people chose MT Andale Mono is:
It's easy to distinguish "0" from "O", "a" from "o", and "I" from "l" from "1".
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Excellent legibility
It's easy to distinguish "0" from "O", "a" from "o", and "I" from "l" from "1".
Pro Good font variants
Boldface variant is not too heavy while italic face is not too spindly. Andale Mono contrasts with Source Code Pro, which is very similar in the regular font face.
Pro Compact
You can fit a lot of text on the screen.
Pro Font proportion is perfect
Width is just right (not too narrow, not too wide). Many other fonts lack this.
Pro Smooth with antialiasing
Smooth at small sizes while still clear.
Pro Readable at small sizes
All characters are easy to recognize at small sizes (comma, period, etc).
Pro Easy to read
This is subjective but this font is very easy to read. The letters are all spaced and sized properly.
Cons
Con Not pure mono
Bold and italic are too wide, so it's not pure mono in combination with regular font.
Con Line doesn't cover text right
When using Neomutt or htop, the line drawn over is too low - the top of the characters cut into the top of the line.
Con "mp" clump together with smaller sizes
E.g. in "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog".