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equivalent to cleartype

post #1 of 18
4/7/02 at 3:06pm
Thread Starter 
winxp has this function "cleartype" which makes reading easier on LCD.

is there a similar function in OS X?
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post #2 of 18
4/7/02 at 3:21pm
The anti-aliasing that's on automatically in OS X is the closest you'll get to cleartype. AFAIK, there is no sub-pixel anti-aliasing on the Mac.

Out of curiosity, which do you prefer, cleartype or X's anti-aliasing? Some people prefer one or the other. I'm still not used to the blur I get on this 17" LCD I'm using.
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post #3 of 18
4/7/02 at 4:21pm
I detest Cleartype, period. Unfortunately, the regular AA in Windows XP is not very good either.
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post #4 of 18
4/7/02 at 4:43pm
ClearType gives people headaches.

Me included.

Gimme Quartz AA. Looks like paper.
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post #5 of 18
4/7/02 at 10:25pm
Apple invented cleartype. And that's not FUD, it's a fact. Remember the colorful text on the Apple //? That's exactly what cleartype is.
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post #6 of 18
4/8/02 at 12:25am
I used to think XP's antialiasing was ugly, until I spent some time with it and discovered exactly how much more readable it is than OS X's. I really think people should benefit from being able to choose between readability and prettiness.
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"I've learned there's more to life than being really, really, really, really, really, really, ridiculously good-looking. :-x" - Zoolander
~:My scraps:~
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post #7 of 18
4/9/02 at 5:24pm
[quote]Originally posted by Whyatt Thrash:
<strong>I really think people should benefit from being able to choose between readability and prettiness.</strong><hr></blockquote>

I agree.

Actually, there is a ClearType equivalent technology for MacOS, it's built into Adobe Acrobat 5.x and Adobe's type rendering engine "CoolType". I would guess that Adobe will roll out this implementation in other applications, because CoolType is a common technology between all of Adobe's apps.

And yes, Apple did "invent" sub-pixel positioning.

Real problem with all of these sub-pixel techs is that they canot really handle colour very well, black text on white backgrounds works best, reversing out text can look awful.
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post #8 of 18
4/9/02 at 5:41pm
[quote]Originally posted by tonton:
<strong>Apple invented cleartype. And that's not FUD, it's a fact. Remember the colorful text on the Apple //? That's exactly what cleartype is.</strong><hr></blockquote>

To pick nits, it's based on the technology Woz created and patented for the Apple ][ monitors, but's not verbatim. MS got to develop ClearType as part of the deal with Apple five years ago -- it included patent sharing. Hey, remember what displays were like in those days? :eek:
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post #9 of 18
4/9/02 at 5:54pm
[quote]Originally posted by BuonRotto:
<strong>

MS got to develop ClearType as part of the deal with Apple five years ago... </strong><hr></blockquote>

I'm not sure that patent sharing thing is true, MS were applying for a patent on their ClearType development.
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post #10 of 18
4/9/02 at 7:47pm
Patents only last 20 years, so if Apple patented subpixel font rendering it would have expired 3 or 4 years ago. But ClearType isn't the same as what the Apple ][ did anyway.
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post #11 of 18
4/9/02 at 7:54pm
Cleartype gives me headaches too. <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />

I don't think any of my Windows buddies use it.
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post #12 of 18
4/15/02 at 4:05am
[quote]Originally posted by BRussell:
<strong>I'm still not used to the blur I get on this 17" LCD I'm using.</strong><hr></blockquote>Having spent all those $$$ on an Apple flat screen, I am now faced with a blurry font. Cool

- T.I.
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post #13 of 18
4/15/02 at 10:04am
[quote]Originally posted by The Installer:
<strong>Having spent all those $$$ on an Apple flat screen, I am now faced with a blurry font. Cool

- T.I.</strong><hr></blockquote>

There's a hack to switch off anti-aliasing in some situations, but IMO apple really dropped the ball for type rendering/choices in some situations in X.
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post #14 of 18
4/16/02 at 10:23am
The antialiasing looks great on my CRT, but it seems virtually unreadable on a LCD (powerbook G4).

You would've thought that Apple might have optimized it's OS for it's own monitors, but oh well.
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post #15 of 18
4/16/02 at 11:38am
some have said Jaguar will include a new ChromaType sub-pixel aa...
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post #16 of 18
4/16/02 at 11:43am
heh, look what I found...

<a href="http://tess.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=ot9af1.3.2" target="_blank">http://tess.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=ot9af1.3.2</a>
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post #17 of 18
4/16/02 at 12:39pm
I get an error when clicking that link
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post #18 of 18
4/16/02 at 12:58pm
yeah, it times out after a while... basically it's a patent filing on behalf of Apple for ChromaType.
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