Code review comment for lp:~cjohnston/launchpad/883258

As described in my original bug report, I think Launchpad would be better off not using the Ubuntu Mono font at all. At *any* size, it is less readable than most other monospace fonts at the same size -- including those typically used by default in browsers -- because of its smaller x-height and its use of shapes intended for a proportional font. There is no branding argument for its use: Launchpad doesn't share Ubuntu branding generally, and even if it did, Ubuntu branding is far more strongly associated with the proportional Ubuntu font than with Ubuntu Mono. And while Web fonts in general are cool, the lag and/or flicker involved would be a poor tradeoff for a code-hosting site even if we were importing the best-designed monospace font in the world.

Chris has told me there is a belief that switching away from the Ubuntu Mono font would "screw up comments formatting for old comments". I don't see how this could be true, for three reasons. First, comments have always wrapped to suit your browser width, so comment authors have never been able to assume a particular line length. Second, if changing the typeface would be a problem, the fact that Launchpad users without the font installed currently don't see it would already be a problem, which (as far as I know) it is not. And third, if changing the typeface would be a problem, changing it at all in 2011 would also have been a problem, but while the choice of font was a problem, the fact that it changed at all was not.