Nelson's Weblog: tech / good / cleartype


Mastodon @nelson@tech.lgbt Linkblog Sat 2025-02-22 LGBTQ survey in US Wed 2025-02-19 Project 2025 Tracker Tue 2025-02-18 Thai Boys Love shows Tearoom NSFW Sun 2025-02-16 NSFW: Keith Haring Nevada County water shortage Sat 2025-02-15 Wrong about GPUs Fri 2025-02-14 Gorton font 50501 Thu 2025-02-13 Schwurbler Little Sisyphus DOGE team Wed 2025-02-12 Atkinson Hyperlegible Font Sun 2025-02-09 minisearch Heat pumps in US Fri 2025-02-07 Kottke on #uspol Pearblossom Hwy., 11 David Hockney's A Rake's Progress Thu 2025-02-06 Special government employees Wed 2025-02-05 Alley Cat (video game) Search Archives 2024 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2023 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2022 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2021 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2020 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2019 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2018 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2017 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2016 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2015 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2014 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2013 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2012 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2011 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2010 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2009 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2008 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2007 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2006 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2005 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2004 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2003 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2002 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2001 12 11 10 09 08 07 One good site MDN Nelson Minar nelson@monkey.org Blog licensed under a Creative Commons License		Cleaner fonts Microsoft ClearType is good software. It's a font rendering option in Windows XP that makes things look better on LCDs. Between laptops and good desktop LCDs a lot of folks have LCDs. So go ahead, turn on ClearType! And get the tuner while you're at it. The technology is surprisingly straightforward. LCDs are made up of lots of tiny red, green, and blue pixels. ClearType uses that structure by doing subpixel rendering of fonts, so instead of drawing a white pixel where you'd expect it draws a blue pixel next to a yellow one, which still looks white. You can see it above in the colour fringing; at normal resolution on the LCD it looks right. It reminds me of the old Apple ][ colour hack where they fit 6 colours per pixel in 1.14 bits. Microsoft's implementation is quite robust. I was particularly impressed when I rotated my LCD 90 degrees and it still did ClearType, only in the Y axis. Still, Windows typography has a way to go. Apple's font rendering is still head and shoulders above anyone else's. I'd love to read an article that explains exactly why text looks so beautiful on a 12" Powerbook. tech • good 2005-05-19 15:57 Z Nelson's Weblog • tech • good