Syntax Highlight Everything

A presentation at Front-Trends 2016 in May 2016 in Warsaw, Poland by Kenneth Ormandy

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Syntax Highlight Everything Kenneth Ormandy Designer @kennethormandy Front-Trends May 19, 2016 at Space Club, Warsaw, Poland

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/** * Fetch all the file paths for a directory. * returns and array of all the relative paths. */ exports.ls = function(dir, callback) { walk(dir, function(err, results){ var files = [] results.map(function(file){ files.push(path.relative(dir, file)) }) callback(null, files) }) }

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/** * Fetch all the file paths for a directory. * returns and array of all the relative paths. */ exports.ls = function(dir, callback) { walk(dir, function(err, results){ var files = [] results.map(function(file){ files.push(path.relative(dir, file)) }) callback(null, files) }) }

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Reading code is reading

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Syntax highlighting is designed

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Typographic conventions

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A visual hierarchy

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Similarity through colour

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Similarity

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If it’s the same, make it the same. If it’s different, make it different. —All my graphic design instructors, September 2010–present

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  • This qualifies as a talk on testing now, right?

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Continuity & Symmetry

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Familiarity

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It is the readers’ familiarity with [type]faces that accounts for their legibility. …readers read best what they read most. —Zuzana Licko —While you’re reading, p. 43

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Amy Allcock, Gutenberg Bible. Photograph. CC by 2.0.

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  • Yes, feel free to take that idea and build a text editor plugin.

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  • I’m sure you’ll open source it before my talk is even over.

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  • Just…keep paying attention to the typography, okay?

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Similarity through size?

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Highlighting relationships

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Berners-Lee, Tim. (1990).No title [Screenshot]. Retrieved from http://www.w3.org/ People/Berners-Lee/ WorldWideWeb.html

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Ratdolt, Erhard. No title [Lithographed reproduction].

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The End of Ideas

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Reading was hard work — so hard, indeed, that one would usually read out loud —Marcin Wichary October 2014, First in, first out: The pilcrow’s strange typographic history

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Provenance Online Project. Leaf a6r of an incunable… CC by 2.0.

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Thanks to Frutiger it is now common practice to produce a dozen or more styles when working on a new type family. —Peter Biľak April 2012, Designing type systems

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Typotheque. Greta Sans type system. 2012.

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Advanced typographic features

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OpenType features

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kern Kerning

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Kerning pairs

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In CSS…

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Kerning isn’t the goal

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Implementation vs technique

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  • Spacing establishes spacing

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  • Spacing establishes spacing
  • Kerning improves spacing

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  • Spacing establishes spacing
  • Kerning improves spacing
  • Ligatures improve spacing

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liga Ligatures

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infinite Hudson, John. (2006–2012). Brill Bold [Typeface].

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infinite Hudson, John. (2006–2012). Brill Bold [Typeface].

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body {
  font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;
}

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body {
  font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;
}

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/* The best-case scenario CSS… we’ll come back to this. */

body {
  font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;
}

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dlig Discretionary Ligatures

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Prince, Joe. (2006–2012). Klinic Slab Bold [Typeface]. Lost Type Co-op.

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Prince, Joe. (2006–2012). Klinic Slab Bold [Typeface]. Lost Type Co-op.

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h1 {
  font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;
}

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h1 {
  font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;
}

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Travis Gertz, Louder Than Ten, 2015. louderthanten.com.

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calt Contextual Alternates

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Edmondson, James T. (2012). Lavanderia [Typeface]. Lost Type Co-op.

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Edmondson, James T. (2012). Lavanderia [Typeface]. Lost Type Co-op.

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Nallaperumal, Shiva. (2014). Enemy [Typeface]. Lost Type Co-op.

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h1 { font-variant-ligatures: contextual; }

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aalt, calt, etc. Language-specific Considerations

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English Dutch Underware. (2014). Typesetting the Dutch IJ.

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Gandhi, Kimya. (2016). Design of a handwritten Devanagari typeface.

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salt Stylistic Alternates

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Edmondson, James T. (2012). Lavanderia [Typeface]. Lost Type Co-op.

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Edmondson, James T. (2012). Lavanderia [Typeface]. Lost Type Co-op.

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Titling Alts. Stylistic Alts. Contextual Alts. Stylistic Alts. Swashes Edmondson, James T. (2012). Lavanderia [Typeface]. Lost Type Co-op.

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…provide simpler forms (no loops on top) for the lowercase b, h, f, l, and k. Simpler forms can work better in certain situations. —James T. Edmondson —Introducing Lavanderia

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h1 { font-variant-ligatures: contextual; }

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h1 { font-variant-ligatures: contextual; margin-bottom: 1em; }

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h1 { font-feature-settings: “calt”; margin: 0 0 1em 0; }

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h1 { font-feature-settings: “calt”, “salt”; margin: 0 0 1em 0; }

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case Case-sensitive Forms

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@kennethormandy @kennethormandy Homola, Wolfgang. (2011– 2014). Soleil [Typeface].

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@kennethormandy @KENNETHORMANDY Homola, Wolfgang. (2011– 2014). Soleil [Typeface].

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@kennethormandy @KENNETHORMANDY Homola, Wolfgang. (2011– 2014). Soleil [Typeface].

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h1 { font-feature-settings: “case”; text-transform: uppercase; }

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smcp, c2sc Small Capitals

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Front Trends HQ Hudson, J. (2006–2012). Brill [Typeface].

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Front Trends HQ Hudson, J. (2006–2012). Brill [Typeface].

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Front Trends HQ Hudson, J. (2006–2012). Brill [Typeface].

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Poland is in the European Union and Schengen Zone. If you’re a citizen of these visa-free countries, you don’t need any documents other than government ID or passport to enter Poland for 90 days. If you do need a visa, Front-Trends is happy to provide a document for you to join us. Poland is in the European Union and Schengen Zone. If you’re a citizen of these visa-free countries, you don’t need any documents other than government ID or passport to enter Poland for 90 days. If you do need a visa, Front-Trends is happy to provide a document for you to join us.

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Poland is in the European Union and Schengen Zone. If you’re a citizen of these visa-free countries, you don’t need any documents other than government ID or passport to enter Poland for 90 days. If you do need a visa, Front-Trends is happy to provide a document for you to join us. Poland is in the European Union and Schengen Zone. If you’re a citizen of these visa-free countries, you don’t need any documents other than government ID or passport to enter Poland for 90 days. If you do need a visa, Front-Trends is happy to provide a document for you to join us.

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Poland is in the European Union and Schengen Zone. If you’re a citizen of these visa-free countries, you don’t need any documents other than government ID or passport to enter Poland for 90 days. If you do need a visa, Front-Trends is happy to provide a document for you to join us. Poland is in the European Union and Schengen Zone. If you’re a citizen of these visa-free countries, you don’t need any documents other than government ID or passport to enter Poland for 90 days. If you do need a visa, Front-Trends is happy to provide a document for you to join us.

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Poland is in the European Union and Schengen Zone. If you’re a citizen of these visa-free countries, you don’t need any documents other than government ID or passport to enter Poland for 90 days. If you do need a visa, Front-Trends is happy to provide a document for you to join us. Poland is in the European Union and Schengen Zone. If you’re a citizen of these visa-free countries, you don’t need any documents other than government ID or passport to enter Poland for 90 days. If you do need a visa, Front-Trends is happy to provide a document for you to join us.

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No is better than faux

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ront Trends HQ ront Trends HQ ront Trends HQ Capitals Small Capitals Faux Small Capitals Hudson, J. (2006–2012). Brill Bold [Typeface].

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ront Trends HQ ront Trends HQ ront Trends HQ HQ Capitals Small Capitals Faux Small Capitals Hudson, J. (2006–2012). Brill Bold [Typeface].

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Butterick, M. (2010–2014). Butterick’s Practical Typography.

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/* Don’t do this! Creates faux Small Caps. */ .caps { font-variant: small-caps; }

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/* Real Small Caps. */ .caps { font-variant-caps: small-caps; }

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Surge.sh, 2015. surge.sh.

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Unlimited publishing Custom domain Custom SSL Force HTTP to HTTPS

<ul> <li>Unlimited publishing</li> <li>Custom domain</li> <li>Custom <span class=”caps”>SSL</span></li> <li>Force <span class=”caps”>HTTP</span> to <span class=”caps”>HTTPS</span></li> </ul>

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“Figures.”

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Numbers

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  • No, it wouldn’t.

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onum, lnum Old-Style & Lining Numbers

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MAY 19, 2016 Edmondson, J. Edmondsans [Typeface]. Lost Type Co-op.

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May 19, 2016 Hudson, John. (2006–2012). Brill Bold [Typeface].

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MAY 19, 2016 May 19, 2016 Carter, Matthew. Georgia & Verdana [Typeface].

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pnum, tnum Proportional & Tabular Numbers

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231,000 229,000 216,000 200,000 199,000

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231,000 229,000 216,000 200,000 199,000

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231,000 229,000 216,000 200,000 199,000 231,000 229,000 216,000 200,000 199,000

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231,000 229,000 216,000 200,000 199,000 231,000 229,000 216,000 200,000 199,000

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table { font-variant-numeric: tabular-nums; }

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table { font-variant-numeric: tabular-nums; }

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  1. Choose the typeface

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  1. Choose the typeface 2. Load the web font

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  1. Choose the typeface 2. Load the web font 3. Enable the features

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  1. Choose the typeface

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Typefaces are different

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11:20 Demo Reel & Tiny JavaScript 11:55 Syntax Highlight Everything 12:30 Lunch break 13:55 Lightning talks 14:25 Coffee break 14:40 Computer Assisted Arts and Crafts

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11:20 Demo Reel & Tiny JavaScript 11:55 Syntax Highlight Everything 12:30 Lunch break 13:55 Lightning talks 14:25 Coffee break 14:40 Computer Assisted Arts and Crafts

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11:20 Demo Reel & “ny JavaScript 11:55 Syntax Highlight Everything 12:30 Lunch break 13:55 Lightning talks 14:25 Coffee break 14:40 Computer Assisted Arts and Crafts

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Developers & Typographers

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  1. Choose the typeface 2. Load the web font

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  1. Choose the typeface 2. Load the web font 3. Enable the features

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table { font-variant-numeric: tabular-nums; }

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table { font-variant-numeric: tabular-nums; }

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table { font-feature-settings: “tnum”; }

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table { font-feature-settings: “tnum”; }

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table { @supports not (font-variant-numeric: tabular-nums) { font-feature-settings: “tnum”; } font-variant-numeric: tabular-nums; }

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table { @supports not (font-variant-numeric: tabular-nums) { font-feature-settings: “tnum”; } font-variant-numeric: tabular-nums; }

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table { @supports not (font-variant-numeric: tabular-nums) { font-feature-settings: “tnum”; } font-variant-numeric: tabular-nums; }

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  • Uh…I’m not going to do all that.

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utility-opentype.kennethormandy.com

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$ npm install —save utility-opentype

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<table class=”tnum”> <thead> <tr> <th>Time</th> <th>Speaker</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td>2:40<abbr class=”smcp”>pm</abbr></td> <td>Mariko Kosaka</td> </tr> <tr>

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Syntax highlight everything.

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Thanks Kenneth Ormandy Designer @kennethormandy Front-Trends May 19, 2016 at Space Club, Warsaw, Poland

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Works cited The WorldWideWeb browser. Sir Tim Berners-Lee. N.d. Basscss design principles. Brent Jackson. 2015. Echo font family, OpenType font features. Typotheque. 2015. Designing type systems. Peter Biľak. 2012. Design Of A Handwritten Devanagari Typeface. Kimya Gandhi. 2016. While you’re reading. Gerard Unger. 2007. Butterick’s practical typography. Matthew Butterick. 2010–2016. OpenType features in web browsers. Gustavo Ferreira. 2012. Flipping tables: Displaying data on small screens. Stephanie Hobson. 2015. OpenType specification. Microsoft, et al. 1997–2015. Font-Variant css. Mozilla, et al. 2014–2016. State of web type. Bram Stein. 2014–2015. First in, first out: The pilcrow’s strange typographic history. Marcin Wichary. 2014.