5 ms·

Subpixel AA only works when you know exactly what the output pixel layout is, when you aren't being scaled by some other technology and when you aren't showing

Subpixel AA only works when you know exactly what the output pixel layout is, when you aren't being scaled by some other technology and when you aren't showing the same thing on disparate displays, and it requires you to adapt whenever the screen rotates, which is common on tablet-style devices. Also, some people (like me) can see the discoloration it imbues. So I'll be glad to see it go. (Attempts to disable it tended to get various results in various operating systems, but rarely consistently disabled it)

peterkelly 8y ago
I don't see why they couldn't make it configurable though
- ghusbands 8y ago
  They did, but it was inconsistent [1]. Microsoft had the same problem [2]. In both cases, poorly-documented APIs meant many applications still used subpixel antialiasing. [1] https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/110750/how-do-i-disable-text-antialias-font-smoothing-in-terminal-and-globally-for-al https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/110750/how-do-i-di... [2] https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/768bd013-cff9-4a80-a3f9-5ca04340871e/is-the-cleartype-tuner-working-for-you-in-win-10?forum=WinPreview2014General https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/768bd013-c...
Demiurge 8y ago
Really? Somehow that 'only' has included every LCD monitor I've used for more than a decade. Windows AA is more aggressive, but it is still a huge improvement over the jagged over-hinted font rendering you get without ClearType. No AA makes sense for DPI greater than about 300, but for anything less, with visible pixels, which is probably most non-4K monitors, I would bet most people prefer AA on. In general, people always prefer AA for 3D and all sorts of other rendering, at lower DPI. So, this is a typical Apple decision to abandon anyone who doesn't have the latest device from them.
- pvg 8y ago
  This isn't 'no AA'.
- agildehaus 8y ago
  > So, this is a typical Apple decision to abandon anyone who doesn't have the latest device from them. And those who bought a Macbook Air from an Apple Store yesterday.
  - eric-hu 8y ago
    There's a two week return window for MacBooks.
  - erikpukinskis 8y ago
    What about today? Are they updating all the Airs with retina displays?
- badsectoracula 8y ago
  Personally i prefer to disable antialiasing and if possible use bitmap fonts designed for clarity. Sadly almost nothing supports properly bitmap fonts these days (assuming it supports them in the first place - i think only GDI and X11 core does, but those are increasingly ignored by programs) and even when you can find support, finding good bitmap fonts is hard because it looks like most bitmap fonts are converted from outline fonts - but with jaggies. As for what i consider a good bitmap font, in Windows MS Sans (the one you could find in Win9x, it was removed in later versions of Windows and aliased with MS Sans Serif which is an outline font), plain Courier and Fixedsys. On Linux i like the console font that you get when booting Debian (not sure what is called) as well as the Terminus fonts. On X11 i like the helv* fonts (usually registered as adobe helvetica - honestly, why is font registration on Xorg such a clusterfuck?) and some of the Fixed fonts (the smaller ones mainly, the larger are a bit too jaggy). On Mac... pretty much all of the original Macintosh fonts. I also like the "WarpSans" font that OS/2 (and eComStation) has, it is very compact and i like compact fonts (although i'm not fan of a few details, like the w being a bit too jaggy).
  - 8y ago

peterkelly 8y ago

I don't see why they couldn't make it configurable though

ghusbands 8y ago
They did, but it was inconsistent [1]. Microsoft had the same problem [2]. In both cases, poorly-documented APIs meant many applications still used subpixel antialiasing. [1] https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/110750/how-do-i-disable-text-antialias-font-smoothing-in-terminal-and-globally-for-al https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/110750/how-do-i-di... [2] https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/768bd013-cff9-4a80-a3f9-5ca04340871e/is-the-cleartype-tuner-working-for-you-in-win-10?forum=WinPreview2014General https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/768bd013-c...

Demiurge 8y ago

Really? Somehow that 'only' has included every LCD monitor I've used for more than a decade. Windows AA is more aggressive, but it is still a huge improvement over the jagged over-hinted font rendering you get without ClearType. No AA makes sense for DPI greater than about 300, but for anything less, with visible pixels, which is probably most non-4K monitors, I would bet most people prefer AA on. In general, people always prefer AA for 3D and all sorts of other rendering, at lower DPI. So, this is a typical Apple decision to abandon anyone who doesn't have the latest device from them.

pvg 8y ago
This isn't 'no AA'.
agildehaus 8y ago
> So, this is a typical Apple decision to abandon anyone who doesn't have the latest device from them. And those who bought a Macbook Air from an Apple Store yesterday.
- eric-hu 8y ago
  There's a two week return window for MacBooks.
- erikpukinskis 8y ago
  What about today? Are they updating all the Airs with retina displays?
badsectoracula 8y ago
Personally i prefer to disable antialiasing and if possible use bitmap fonts designed for clarity. Sadly almost nothing supports properly bitmap fonts these days (assuming it supports them in the first place - i think only GDI and X11 core does, but those are increasingly ignored by programs) and even when you can find support, finding good bitmap fonts is hard because it looks like most bitmap fonts are converted from outline fonts - but with jaggies. As for what i consider a good bitmap font, in Windows MS Sans (the one you could find in Win9x, it was removed in later versions of Windows and aliased with MS Sans Serif which is an outline font), plain Courier and Fixedsys. On Linux i like the console font that you get when booting Debian (not sure what is called) as well as the Terminus fonts. On X11 i like the helv* fonts (usually registered as adobe helvetica - honestly, why is font registration on Xorg such a clusterfuck?) and some of the Fixed fonts (the smaller ones mainly, the larger are a bit too jaggy). On Mac... pretty much all of the original Macintosh fonts. I also like the "WarpSans" font that OS/2 (and eComStation) has, it is very compact and i like compact fonts (although i'm not fan of a few details, like the w being a bit too jaggy).
- 8y ago