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The cleaner look is because most designers use macOS which renders most fonts in a way that makes them all look good (let’s not get into technical details). On

by bzb6 6y ago

The cleaner look is because most designers use macOS which renders most fonts in a way that makes them all look good (let’s not get into technical details). On Windows the same fonts might look like shit (for example some parts of a character are thicker than the rest for no apparent reason)

corty 6y ago
Well, good is relative. MacOS renders fonts in a weight-and-form-correct way which makes them look blurry however. Windows renders fonts in a weight-and-form-incorrect way, which however makes them sharper and easier to read on screens, especially with resolutions below 200dpi. Now if you use a high-resolution monitor and print-optimized fonts, MacOS will look better. If you use a low-resolution monitor and screen-optimized fonts, Windows will look better. Problem is, most designers come from print and use expensive Mac gear, so they are designing for a minority, their peers, not their users.
- saurik 6y ago
  Designers primarily designing for other designers is a core problem with the entire field of design and it holds back a lot of society as it seems to really encourage apps having super low information density displays with slow animations.
- alisonkisk 6y ago
  > Problem is, most designers come from print and use This can't still be true. No one comes from print anymore.
  - zinekeller 6y ago
    > This can't still be true. No one comes from print anymore. It is. The real problem is that a large number of designers like to have a pixel-perfect experience (which on print doesn't really matter as they know what paper will that publication use).
barrkel 6y ago
MacOS makes text blurry. You need a high resolution monitor for macOS font rendering to be acceptable.
- martimarkov 6y ago
  Like the one that comes with my laptop or is sold by apple? I think macOS will always be optimised for the best experience. Even if that means sub par XP if you don’t go all in on money. I’d actually be interested in learning more about the rendering vs say windows if you have a source.
  - II2II 6y ago
    > I think macOS will always be optimised for the best experience. It is probably better to say that Apple will design for their intended market. I was using Apple products long before HiDPI was a thing and was never particularly happy with the fuzzy fonts under Mac OS X. While that may be acceptable when designing for print, since accuracy is more important, it is an annoyance in many other circumstances.
- hhas01 6y ago
  Blurry on standard-resolution monitors. On hi-def monitors and laser-printed page, it is lovely both to read and to look at. I mean, 4K (3840×2160) 23" displays nowadays start at $300, so if you’re still on hundred-buck 1920x1080 then you’re only getting what you paid for. Going to all hi-def displays is the single best investment I ever made as a professional programmer, reading and writing text on screens daily.
canofbars 6y ago
Its actually incredible how ugly fonts render on windows. After using linux for so long I thought I was experiencing a bug when seeing fonts on windows.
- andybak 6y ago
  Have you got a screenshot? I'm curious as I regularly switch between Windows and MacOS and I'm happy enough with font rendering on both. In my recollection (and it's been a few years since I used a Linux GUI) Linux was the one with dodgy font rendering.
  - jraph 6y ago
    We probably get used to whatever font rendering the systems we use the most have. To me, fonts indeed look blurry on macOS and weird on Windows. Screenshots from Windows with colored pixels particularly don't look good to me. Though after having seen screens of people using Windows 10, it seems they changed whatever I really didn't like about font rendering on Windows. I still like font rendering on GNU/Linux (and Android) better it is correctly configured, which it is on widespread distributions with widespread desktop environments (I use a QHD screen). But it could be out of habit. On some configurations, kerning is bad though.
    - mook 6y ago
      Perhaps the screenshots you're seeing have ClearType (i.e. sub-pixel anti-aliasing) turned on, and when it got to you (as a picture) the subpixels no longer match on your screen? For example, if one of the screens involved was vertically oriented…
      - jraph 6y ago
        This is it. This was more of an aside, it's indeed not supposed to look this way when it's directly rendered on the screen.
- bzb6 6y ago

by bzb6 6y ago

corty 6y ago

Well, good is relative. MacOS renders fonts in a weight-and-form-correct way which makes them look blurry however. Windows renders fonts in a weight-and-form-incorrect way, which however makes them sharper and easier to read on screens, especially with resolutions below 200dpi. Now if you use a high-resolution monitor and print-optimized fonts, MacOS will look better. If you use a low-resolution monitor and screen-optimized fonts, Windows will look better. Problem is, most designers come from print and use expensive Mac gear, so they are designing for a minority, their peers, not their users.

saurik 6y ago
Designers primarily designing for other designers is a core problem with the entire field of design and it holds back a lot of society as it seems to really encourage apps having super low information density displays with slow animations.
alisonkisk 6y ago
> Problem is, most designers come from print and use This can't still be true. No one comes from print anymore.
- zinekeller 6y ago
  > This can't still be true. No one comes from print anymore. It is. The real problem is that a large number of designers like to have a pixel-perfect experience (which on print doesn't really matter as they know what paper will that publication use).

barrkel 6y ago

MacOS makes text blurry. You need a high resolution monitor for macOS font rendering to be acceptable.

martimarkov 6y ago
Like the one that comes with my laptop or is sold by apple? I think macOS will always be optimised for the best experience. Even if that means sub par XP if you don’t go all in on money. I’d actually be interested in learning more about the rendering vs say windows if you have a source.
- II2II 6y ago
  > I think macOS will always be optimised for the best experience. It is probably better to say that Apple will design for their intended market. I was using Apple products long before HiDPI was a thing and was never particularly happy with the fuzzy fonts under Mac OS X. While that may be acceptable when designing for print, since accuracy is more important, it is an annoyance in many other circumstances.
hhas01 6y ago
Blurry on standard-resolution monitors. On hi-def monitors and laser-printed page, it is lovely both to read and to look at. I mean, 4K (3840×2160) 23" displays nowadays start at $300, so if you’re still on hundred-buck 1920x1080 then you’re only getting what you paid for. Going to all hi-def displays is the single best investment I ever made as a professional programmer, reading and writing text on screens daily.

canofbars 6y ago

Its actually incredible how ugly fonts render on windows. After using linux for so long I thought I was experiencing a bug when seeing fonts on windows.

andybak 6y ago
Have you got a screenshot? I'm curious as I regularly switch between Windows and MacOS and I'm happy enough with font rendering on both. In my recollection (and it's been a few years since I used a Linux GUI) Linux was the one with dodgy font rendering.
- jraph 6y ago
  We probably get used to whatever font rendering the systems we use the most have. To me, fonts indeed look blurry on macOS and weird on Windows. Screenshots from Windows with colored pixels particularly don't look good to me. Though after having seen screens of people using Windows 10, it seems they changed whatever I really didn't like about font rendering on Windows. I still like font rendering on GNU/Linux (and Android) better it is correctly configured, which it is on widespread distributions with widespread desktop environments (I use a QHD screen). But it could be out of habit. On some configurations, kerning is bad though.
  - mook 6y ago
    Perhaps the screenshots you're seeing have ClearType (i.e. sub-pixel anti-aliasing) turned on, and when it got to you (as a picture) the subpixels no longer match on your screen? For example, if one of the screens involved was vertically oriented…
    - jraph 6y ago
      This is it. This was more of an aside, it's indeed not supposed to look this way when it's directly rendered on the screen.
bzb6 6y ago