Poor Font Rendering on MBP - Is it OS X?

[Smoothie]

I don't know if this is an OS X thing or a MBP LCD thing, but after coming from my Windows machines it seems that the fonts shown on many web pages don't render very accurately on the MBP. In fact, certain letters seem to be completely distorted. It's especially true of small sizes. Here's an example of a portion of a web page. The letters seem clipped in places. Look at the "H." The legs are different lengths. The cross-bar on the "A" is not shaped correctly. This is true whether using Safari or Firefox. The font smoothing option doesn't make any difference. On my Windows machines, the letters are formed correctly. What's going on here?

 

[psycoswimmer]

I've had this happen too. Could be the screen resolution?

Go to that page and press Apple (Command) + Plus (on the keypad on the right of your keyboard). This should increase the font size. Does it look normal now?

 

[apfhex]

First of all, the text there isn't getting anti aliased. Perhaps because it's point size is below the minimum that OS X will AA by default. You can change the setting in System Preferences -> Appearance, it goes as low as 4 point.

Also, it's possible that the site designer chose a poor font for such a small size or they chose a font that Windows comes with that OS X does not, so that Safari/whatever would substitute another.

Or, it could be that you have some font issue on your MBP causing the text to look bad. If you could post a link to that website, it might be helpful.

 

[Smoothie]

If you could post a link to that website, it might be helpful.

Here you go.

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/

 

[Smoothie]

I've had this happen too. Could be the screen resolution?

Go to that page and press Apple (Command) + Plus (on the keypad on the right of your keyboard). This should increase the font size. Does it look normal now?

Yes. One tap on the plus sign fixed it. That doesn't seem to change the screen resolution, but it enlarged the font on the browser portion of the screen.

Even when enlarged, the fonts don't seem as nicely rendered as on my Windows machines. I wonder whether it's also the LCD panel. I've got a Samsung.

 

[psycoswimmer]

Yes. One tap on the plus sign fixed it. That doesn't seem to change the screen resolution, but it enlarged the font on the browser portion of the screen.

Looks like size 6, maybe 7, Ariel. I find that anything below 8 (and that's pushing it) has that affect on my iMac.

 

[aquajet]

I changed my AA setting to "Turn off text smoothing for font sizes 4 and smaller" and that fixed it. Well, made it look better at least.

That's found in the Appearance pane in System Preferences.

 

[Smoothie]

Thanks, aquajet! That substantially improved it.

 

[SuperSnake2012]

FWIW, I've only noticed that issue in Camino/Firefox. Has something to do with Gecko I believe, because I don't have this problem in Safari.

 

[killerrobot]

Windows uses a different font renderer, Cleartype, than OSX and there are differences noticeable when switching between the two. A lot of people say Windows does a better job (clearer, easier to read), others swear by OSX's capability (it's more true to the real look). Either one has pros/cons and it's all beside the point.

What is the point is that you'll definitely notice all the differences the more you go back and forth between both operating systems and you'll just have to accept that it's different looking in OSX than in Windows. So, there's nothing to worry about because there's nothing wrong with your MBP or your version of OSX.

 

[kolax]

OSX uses AA to smooth out fonts making them easier to read on the eyes.

Compare the same font and size with that on Windows, and Windows is really really sharp - doesn't blend well so isn't the best to read.

 

[supremus]

I don't know if this is an OS X thing or a MBP LCD thing, but after coming from my Windows machines it seems that the fonts shown on many web pages don't render very accurately on the MBP. In fact, certain letters seem to be completely distorted. It's especially true of small sizes. Here's an example of a portion of a web page. The letters seem clipped in places. Look at the "H." The legs are different lengths. The cross-bar on the "A" is not shaped correctly. This is true whether using Safari or Firefox. The font smoothing option doesn't make any difference. On my Windows machines, the letters are formed correctly. What's going on here?

I really struggled with Fonts on OSX for a while before I found SILK. Do a google search for "Silk for mac" and download it. Once installed go to System Pref > Other > Silk - under Global / Application settings disable everything on the options - and reboot /logout.

That helped me a lot I know -- hope that helps.

 

[warstrekkid]

I read a very interesting post about just this in Coding Horror a couple weeks ago.
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000884.html
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000885.html
You can read them, but the big point he makes here is this

Apple generally believes that the goal of the algorithm should be to preserve the design of the typeface as much as possible, even at the cost of a little bit of blurriness.

Microsoft generally believes that the shape of each letter should be hammered into pixel boundaries to prevent blur and improve readability, even at the cost of not being true to the typeface.

 

[mkrishnan]

Just for reference, iBook G4 / 800 / 12" screen, Safari 2, default fonts set to Times 13 and Courier 12 (probably not relevant), "never use font sizes smaller than 10", and font smoothing turned off below 8 pts, looks like this:

With the never use... setting turned off, it looks like your post.

I personally find that "never use ..." (under Safari Prefs -> Advanced) to be the most useful thing... I don't know what obsesses people with using 4 point fonts on their sites, but it makes the web experience much nicer for me, and the rest of the page doesn't get blown out excessively. You can play around with the number to your liking, but I find 10 pt on my 12" screen to be plenty small.