When comparing Google Droid Sans Mono vs MonoLisa, the Slant community recommends Google Droid Sans Mono for most people. In the question“What are the best programming fonts?” Google Droid Sans Mono is ranked 24th while MonoLisa is ranked 54th. The most important reason people chose Google Droid Sans Mono is:
Feels very easy to read code, even in a very small px (like 10 or 9). Letters are slightly separated, l (ell) and 1 are different, " (opening and closing quote) is straight and not angled, and the "Zero Slashed" version makes it an excellent font for coding.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Makes code very easy to read, especially if using the version where zeroes are slashed
Feels very easy to read code, even in a very small px (like 10 or 9). Letters are slightly separated, l (ell) and 1 are different, " (opening and closing quote) is straight and not angled, and the "Zero Slashed" version makes it an excellent font for coding.
Pro Size and spacing are excellent for readability
Very easy to scan through code. Large character size for fonts of the same type size.
Pro Looks neat
Droid Sans Mono looks beautiful. The only disadvantage is that there's no italics or bold.
Pro Customizable OpenType features downloads
The website offers customizable downloads for editors that don't support OpenType features natively.
Pro Script variant
It comes with script variant for italics.
Pro Ligatures
The typeface supports over 120 optionally enabled ligatures for common coding tasks.
Pro Italics
The typeface comes with an italic version.
Pro Space
Space used by the characters has been carefully balanced to keep them light to read.
Pro Reading flow
The characters have been designed to flow into each other so that the font feels easy to read.
Pro Distinction
Specific care has been put to make programming characters such as 1, i, and l or O or 0 easy to tell apart.
Pro Wider than usual
As it's wider, this means there's more space for designing characters like "m".
Cons
Con Zero is not slashed or dotted
This can make it hard to distinguish the letter "O" from the number "0".
Con Superceded by Google Noto Sans Mono
Con Not free
This font requires a purchase in order to be used. The cheapest version ('Basic') is 60 dollars. There is a free trial, though.
Con Wider than usual
As it's wider, this means a short adjustment period may be required. If you have a limited amount of horizontal space, the wider glyphs may be problematic as well.