My first post. I've been checking out the new PowerBooks in the store and they sure are sweet.but I must say one thing that drives me mad is font smoothing.
Notes replaces traditional IMAP-based syncing with iCloud, which offers better end-to-end encryption and faster syncing. OS X El Capitan 10.11.1 Update 10.11.2 15C50 December 8, 2015 15.2.0. 2017 About the security content of Security Update 2016-003 El Capitan.
I can't stand it on my current PC, and I definitely don't like it on the PowerBook. I just prefer the look of un-smoothed fonts. Now I've searched the forums, and it seems I can disable this by using a third party program.
One of these threads suggested, however, that completely disabling Font Smoothing would hinder performance - is this true, or did I misread? Also, will there still be the ability to disable it in the forthcoming Tiger?
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Hmmm, first, welcome to the fold! I don't think you're going to see more options to disable font smoothing in any future OS on any system.I think it's here to stay. OS X does let you select the smallest fonts which will be smoothed from system preferences (but the highest you can set this is to not smooth fonts. Between OS X and Windows XP, I would say OS X has the downside to font smoothing.
Font smoothing was something MS got right and Apple didn't. If you notice Apple's font smoothing is harder on the eyes because it uses so many different colors in the process. Windows on the other hand has superior font smoothing. This is a rare occasion that I actually give props to Windows. To turn on/off font smoothing in OS X: System prefsappearance. Even though you're on a LCD use the CRT setting if you don't like font smoothing.
Between OS X and Windows XP, I would say OS X has the downside to font smoothing. Font smoothing was something MS got right and Apple didn't. If you notice Apple's font smoothing is harder on the eyes because it uses so many different colors in the process. Windows on the other hand has superior font smoothing. This is a rare occasion that I actually give props to Windows. To turn on/off font smoothing in OS X: System prefsappearance. Even though you're on a LCD use the CRT setting if you don't like font smoothing.
Click to expand.Anti Aliasing used to make things blurry back when FSAA was a new technology (like on the Voodoo5). But these days FSAA is capable of making crisp, clear images without any jaggies in sight. Its really come a long way. With that said, let me show a few examples where I feel Cleartype is far better than OSX's font smoothing. This is OSX's font smoothing used on a popular computer forum, Anandtech: Here is the same text rendered in Windows XP using Cleartype: I think its obvious to see that the text in windows is far more readable and less blurry than the OSX text. The OSX text almost looks as if it is out of focus, and I have read reports of it giving people headaches from this effect. Click to expand.I do (have best for flat panel selected); I also have a minimum font size set for smoothing as 8.
Anyway, though, I think it could be implemented better than it is in OS X - don't get me wrong. I'd prefer if some intelligence was applied by the OS on what to smooth and what not to smooth, rather than asking me to set a cutoff. Ideally, I think the OS's algorithm for how/when to smooth should also take into account color relative to background. Do you think the blue-on-blue makes the anti-aliased font even harder to read?
It seems to me like might. But, I think that most fonts, at larger sizes, on high-contrast backgrounds, are appealing smoothed. But the example you provided - of what the small text looks like for you on your display, is very difficult to read. I have a hard time imagining why anyone would prefer that.