3 ms·
Hinting was originally created for fonts that had zero anti-aliasing. On Windows, prior to Cleartype, all fonts were rendered in binary, so it was even more imp
by bmh 5y ago
Hinting was originally created for fonts that had zero anti-aliasing. On Windows, prior to Cleartype, all fonts were rendered in binary, so it was even more important to have hinting there (eg so that the two stems of an 'H' are equal width, or the distance between the two symmetrical parts of an 'm' are equal size).
As screen resolutions rise, the need for hinting diminishes. On a 4K desktop monitor you still benefit from hinting. I think 8K desktop monitor resolution (at say 28 inch size) is probably where hinting loses relevance.
- chronogram 5y ago> On a 4K desktop monitor you still benefit from hinting. I don’t have a 4K desktop monitor but I was curious to see if it does anything with larger fonts. Trying it out with Open Sans and it does still give an increase in contrast on a 34px title font sample, but not as significant as on the smaller body text: https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/juxtapose/latest/embed/index.html?uid=17cf866c-ede1-11eb-abb7-b9a7ff2ee17c https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/juxtapose/latest/embed/index....
- bmh 5y agoYes indeed. Sub-pixel RGB antialiasing gives you almost 3x resolution on the X coordinate, so hinting the vertical stems is not so noticeable. But because there's no sub-pixel antialiasing on the Y coordinates, the horizontal stems still benefit visibly from hinting.
- rbanffy 5y agoOn higher resolution screens, subpixel antialiasing loses relevance. Also, on the screen I'm writing, RGB subpixel antialiasing would increase the vertical resolution because the screen is rotated.