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I dislike font icons because they look horrible on Windows. You should provide a PNG download in multiple sizes, or a generator like http://fa2png.io/ http://fa

I dislike font icons because they look horrible on Windows. You should provide a PNG download in multiple sizes, or a generator like http://fa2png.io/ http://fa2png.io/

pokoleo 12y ago
I've never heard of this problem, and it doesn't look like it's googlable. Screenshot?
- psychometry 12y ago
  Windows and OS X use different methods of hinting where Windows attempts to stay true to the typeface and OS X attempts to provide a provide a smoother, more readable version. Webkit browsers give you some level of control with subpixel rendering CSS attributes, but fonts might still look awful in Firefox or IE on Windows.
  - subsection1h 12y ago
    It's my understanding that it is Apple that attempts to preserve the design of the typeface, not Microsoft: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2007/06/12.html http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2007/06/12.html
    - ss64 12y ago
      Also Windows 8 uses subpixel positioned grayscale, rather than subpixel positioned ClearType. When you rotate a tablet by 90degrees ClearType doesn't work.
JohnTHaller 12y ago
No, they don't. They looked horrible in Chrome for a long time because Chrome's rendering was screwed up unless you gave it fonts in a very specific order so it used SVG. Fun fact, Google Web Fonts never served it in that very specific order.
- milankragujevic 12y ago
  Yes they do. Evidence: http://i.imgur.com/WAqvAmv.png http://i.imgur.com/WAqvAmv.png They have rough edges, wrong aspect ration in small sizes and look nasty.
  - dandelany 12y ago
    Try disabling Direct Write. Chrome 37 pushed a fix for the font aliasing problem that resolved it for most users but made it worse for a few. See this ticket for details: https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=444141 https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=444141 (sucks that this is still an issue so many years later)
    - function_seven 12y ago
      That's not Chrome, it's Firefox. Looks the same on my machine as well, all jaggedy. I'm using FF 36. Let me go update and see if there's a difference... No difference on 37. They just look terrible. http://i.imgur.com/exrS0u9.png http://i.imgur.com/exrS0u9.png EDIT: Wow, looks like turning ClearType OFF makes the font icons look much better: http://i.imgur.com/dwwagZN.png http://i.imgur.com/dwwagZN.png Interesting.
      - dandelany 12y ago
        Wow. I can't believe it's 2015 and both Chrome and Firefox are still battling text antialiasing bugs.
        idbehold 12y ago
        I think you mean battling Microsoft's terrible text antialiasing.
        JohnTHaller 12y ago
        It's likely an issue with buggy video drivers. Firefox has a database of drivers on a blacklist that will crash due to instability. When it detects them in use, it will disable hardware acceleration which decreases performance and quality of some things like font rendering. Judging by the earlier screenshot, this is on a lower end laptop at 1366x768 resolution with an integrated graphics card. Most laptop makers never update the bundled drivers to fix bugs even though Intel and AMD regularly update the drivers of their integrated graphics tech. So, users are stuck with an outdated buggy driver and no way to update it. Mozilla at least ensures that it won't crash.

I dislike font icons because they look horrible on Windows. You should provide a PNG download in multiple sizes, or a generator like http://fa2png.io/ http://fa2png.io/

pokoleo 12y ago

I've never heard of this problem, and it doesn't look like it's googlable. Screenshot?

psychometry 12y ago
Windows and OS X use different methods of hinting where Windows attempts to stay true to the typeface and OS X attempts to provide a provide a smoother, more readable version. Webkit browsers give you some level of control with subpixel rendering CSS attributes, but fonts might still look awful in Firefox or IE on Windows.
- subsection1h 12y ago
  It's my understanding that it is Apple that attempts to preserve the design of the typeface, not Microsoft: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2007/06/12.html http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2007/06/12.html
  - ss64 12y ago
    Also Windows 8 uses subpixel positioned grayscale, rather than subpixel positioned ClearType. When you rotate a tablet by 90degrees ClearType doesn't work.

JohnTHaller 12y ago

No, they don't. They looked horrible in Chrome for a long time because Chrome's rendering was screwed up unless you gave it fonts in a very specific order so it used SVG. Fun fact, Google Web Fonts never served it in that very specific order.

milankragujevic 12y ago
Yes they do. Evidence: http://i.imgur.com/WAqvAmv.png http://i.imgur.com/WAqvAmv.png They have rough edges, wrong aspect ration in small sizes and look nasty.
- dandelany 12y ago
  Try disabling Direct Write. Chrome 37 pushed a fix for the font aliasing problem that resolved it for most users but made it worse for a few. See this ticket for details: https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=444141 https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=444141 (sucks that this is still an issue so many years later)
  - function_seven 12y ago
    That's not Chrome, it's Firefox. Looks the same on my machine as well, all jaggedy. I'm using FF 36. Let me go update and see if there's a difference... No difference on 37. They just look terrible. http://i.imgur.com/exrS0u9.png http://i.imgur.com/exrS0u9.png EDIT: Wow, looks like turning ClearType OFF makes the font icons look much better: http://i.imgur.com/dwwagZN.png http://i.imgur.com/dwwagZN.png Interesting.
    - dandelany 12y ago
      Wow. I can't believe it's 2015 and both Chrome and Firefox are still battling text antialiasing bugs.
      - idbehold 12y ago
        I think you mean battling Microsoft's terrible text antialiasing.
      - JohnTHaller 12y ago
        It's likely an issue with buggy video drivers. Firefox has a database of drivers on a blacklist that will crash due to instability. When it detects them in use, it will disable hardware acceleration which decreases performance and quality of some things like font rendering. Judging by the earlier screenshot, this is on a lower end laptop at 1366x768 resolution with an integrated graphics card. Most laptop makers never update the bundled drivers to fix bugs even though Intel and AMD regularly update the drivers of their integrated graphics tech. So, users are stuck with an outdated buggy driver and no way to update it. Mozilla at least ensures that it won't crash.