[arch-general] Crisp Rendering Fonts
Is there any suggestion on Arch Linux running Gnome 2.6.30 to improve the crisp / clearness of my fonts? I installed the latest available nVidia drivers & under 'Appearance' > 'Fonts' > 'Details', I show the following: * Resolution: 98 dots per square inch. * Smoothing: Subpixel (LCD) * Hinting: Slight * Subpixel Order; RGB It just never seems as clear and crisp when I compare side by side to Ubuntu or Windows 7. The font clarity is notable difference beween Arch and I would like to change this. Any help and or tips would be greatly appreciated! -Carlos
On 28/04/2010 14:13, Carlos Mennens wrote:
Is there any suggestion on Arch Linux running Gnome 2.6.30 to improve the crisp / clearness of my fonts? I installed the latest available nVidia drivers & under 'Appearance' > 'Fonts' > 'Details', I show the following:
* Resolution: 98 dots per square inch. * Smoothing: Subpixel (LCD) * Hinting: Slight * Subpixel Order; RGB
It just never seems as clear and crisp when I compare side by side to Ubuntu or Windows 7. The font clarity is notable difference beween Arch and I would like to change this. Any help and or tips would be greatly appreciated!
-Carlos
Install the -cleartype, -lcd or -ubuntu patches for Cairo from the AUR. Ananda
On Wed, Apr 28, 2010 at 9:13 AM, Carlos Mennens <carloswill@gmail.com> wrote:
Is there any suggestion on Arch Linux running Gnome 2.6.30 to improve the crisp / clearness of my fonts? [...] It just never seems as clear and crisp when I compare side by side to Ubuntu or Windows 7.
I, too, have been on a quest to make my fonts look as crisp as possible. It turned out that different people have different definitions of "crisp". In a nutshell, you're either looking for bitmap fonts, ms-ttf-fonts (which are raster fonts, but include bitmaps for smaller point sizes) or cleartype fonts. I found Jonn Gruber's article [1] to be the most enlightening about modern computer fonts. [1]: http://daringfireball.net/2003/03/antiantialiasing Denis.
On Wed, Apr 28, 2010 at 9:42 AM, Denis Kobozev <d.v.kobozev@gmail.com> wrote:
[..] bitmap fonts, ms-ttf-fonts (which are raster fonts, but include [...]
Buh, ms-ttf-fonts are vector or outline fonts, not raster fonts. Denis.
2010/4/28 Denis Kobozev <d.v.kobozev@gmail.com>
On Wed, Apr 28, 2010 at 9:42 AM, Denis Kobozev <d.v.kobozev@gmail.com> wrote:
[..] bitmap fonts, ms-ttf-fonts (which are raster fonts, but include [...]
Buh, ms-ttf-fonts are vector or outline fonts, not raster fonts.
Denis.
Aren't "raster" and "bitmap" similar, if not equal, concepts? Anyway, I had some headache (literally, blurry fonts...) for a while until I found out about the -lcd packages for cairo. I think there was some insight on the arch wiki[1]. Everything looks very crisp now, although I'm sure it could be better with some fine tuning. [1] http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Font_Configuration#LCD_filter_patched_pa...
On Thu, Apr 29, 2010 at 11:22 AM, Michishige Kaito <chris.webstar@gmail.com> wrote:
Aren't "raster" and "bitmap" similar, if not equal, concepts?
Yes, they are equal (or similar). There are bitmap (or raster, or pixel, whatever you want to call them) fonts that only work well for specific resolutions. Examples are Dina font, Proggy family and Terminus. Then there are outline (or vector) fonts - these scale better that bitmap fonts, but shouldn't be used without anti-aliasing. Examples are DejaVu and Liberation fonts. And then there are hybrids like ms-ttf-fonts that include both bitmap and outline versions in the same package. Bitmap fonts are designed to work well without anti-aliasing, because they have a 1:1 mapping to pixels on screen. These are the most crisp-looking, to the point where some people consider them too jagged. Then there are different flavors of anti-aliasing. The simplest form uses shades of gray (for black text) to make fonts look less jagged. It also produces the most blurry text. Subpixel rendering [1] (e.g. ClearType) uses physical properties of LCD monitors for less blurry anti-aliasing. [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subpixel_rendering
Anyway, I had some headache (literally, blurry fonts...) for a while until I found out about the -lcd packages for cairo. I think there was some insight on the arch wiki[1]. Everything looks very crisp now, although I'm sure it could be better with some fine tuning.
I understand that -lcd packages implement some kind of subpixel rendering mechanism. Pixels on modern are still way too huge, and even subpixel rendering does not produce great results for rendering of small point sizes. I find that bitmap fonts or ms-ttf-fonts work best for me - I use Terminus for the console and code editing and ms-ttf-fonts for everything else. Anti-aliasing is turned off for small point sizes and turned on for larger sizes. Denis.
Anti-aliasing is turned off for small point sizes and turned on for larger sizes.
Denis.
I'd be very interested in finding out how this is controlled. Could you point me at a resource on the topic?
On Thu, Apr 29, 2010 at 7:37 PM, Michishige Kaito <chris.webstar@gmail.com> wrote:
Anti-aliasing is turned off for small point sizes and turned on for larger sizes.
Denis.
I'd be very interested in finding out how this is controlled. Could you point me at a resource on the topic?
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Font_Configuration#Enable_anti-aliasing_...
2010/4/29 Xavier Chantry <chantry.xavier@gmail.com>
On Thu, Apr 29, 2010 at 7:37 PM, Michishige Kaito <chris.webstar@gmail.com> wrote:
Anti-aliasing is turned off for small point sizes and turned on for larger sizes.
Denis.
I'd be very interested in finding out how this is controlled. Could you point me at a resource on the topic?
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Font_Configuration#Enable_anti-aliasing_...
Thanks!
participants (5)
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Ananda Samaddar
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Carlos Mennens
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Denis Kobozev
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Michishige Kaito
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Xavier Chantry