When comparing Dina vs Apple San Francisco Mono, the Slant community recommends Dina for most people. In the question“What are the best programming fonts?” Dina is ranked 31st while Apple San Francisco Mono is ranked 38th. The most important reason people chose Dina is:
Dina is compact, sharp, and easy to read.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Great appearance
Dina is compact, sharp, and easy to read.
Pro Compact yet readable
One of the most compact fonts while still being readable. More lines on screen while still passing basic readability check than Consolas, Courier new, Cascadia Mono, Hack, and Crisp. 8, 9, and 10 point are all fantastic.
Pro A really clean programming font
Neat and simple.
Pro Clear and dis·tin·guish·a·ble
Code is very readable at both big and small sizes.
Pro Beautiful with high pixel density
Pro Best legible font
This font is legible in every condition.
Pro Visible punctuation
Punctuation is prominent and easily visible.
Pro Looks good on low and high PPI displays
SF Mono looks good on external monitors and Retina Displays. Large and small font sizes.
Cons
Con Bitmap only
Only available in bitmap (unless you find that one dude who converted it into a .ttf).
Con 8, 9, and 10pt only
Limited font size options.
Con Apple is locking down this font
It's not open in any sense of the word. It even gives warnings if you try to rip it out of the Terminal.app or Xcode bundles. Obviously, Apple only wants it on their tools. This is such a shame. It should work in other editors, too. It's a beautiful font. Apple open sourced swift, why can't they be open with a monospace font?
Con No Ligature support
Does not support Ligatures so it doesn't play well with some terminal themes.
Con Lowercase l (ell) is similar to 1 (one)
Con Slightly difficult to use outside of Xcode, Terminal, or Console
The typeface isn't available in Font Book, etc. unless the user imports the files embedded in the apps above.
