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Before I submit a bug report-- is there a good reason that the zero isn't dotted in this font?

For example, executive order numbers have both "O" and "0" appearing in them. But I'm sure there are stronger examples in various gov't depts. where those characters can occur in sequence and create errors. Not to mention any code snippets that already appear in government web sites.

I suppose the extra ink could be a concern, but we should be moving away from paper printouts anyway. And as we do that, extinguishing a small dot in this great nation's zeros would be an important symbolic first step in combating climate change.



“is there a good reason that the zero isn't dotted in this font?”

Because it isn’t a coding/monospaced font?

Most text/display typefaces don’t have dotted or slashed zeros.

The expectation is that if you have ID numbers etc where you’d need them, you would use a different typeface.

The US Web Design System 2.0 (of which Public Sans is a part) specifies Roboto Mono (which does have a slashed zero) for such purposes. See https://v2.designsystem.digital.gov/components/typography/


I’m wondering that myself. It makes a BIG difference to me when strings appear out of context. With zeros and Os together it can be very confusing, and the dot or slash makes a big difference.


It's even more confusing WITOUT the O and 0 together... Then you have no way to see which one is slimmer


It's almost always clear in normal text whether you're looking at a word or a number.


I'm not sure the zero should be dotted/slashed by default, but it doesn't look like the font has a variant for it either…


I wouldn’t put it in the standard numerals, but it could work in the lining/tabular figures. If nothing else, this would be a good place to use an OpenType stylistic set: https://typofonderie.com/font-support/opentype-features/


Usually these are available as “alternates”, can be enabled in system text dialog on MacOS, also through css. (Not on desktop right now so can’t check).


It appears CSS only has an alternate for slashed zero.


I checked and it didn't seem to work :(


Someone (you?) opened an issue: https://github.com/uswds/public-sans/issues/33




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