Comment Feed for Channel 9 - Bill Hill - Why isn't ClearType on by default in Windows XP? http://mschnlnine.vo.llnwd.net/d1/Dev/App_Themes/C9/images/feedimage.png Channel 9 - Bill Hill - Why isn't ClearType on by default in Windows XP? Bill Hill, the head of the typography/advanced reading technology group here, talks about ClearType and why it doesn't work for everyone. He also talks about why it's so important that you "tune" your ClearType with the ClearType tuner (you'll need Windows XP to use ClearType). Visit the ClearType site for more information about ClearType, and how it makes it easier for most people to read text on the screen. en Fri, 24 May 2013 09:12:38 GMT Fri, 24 May 2013 09:12:38 GMT Rev9 Re: Bill Hill - Why isn't ClearType on by default in Windows XP?

posted by BinaryBoy

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/TheChannel9Team/Bill-Hill-Why-isnt-ClearType-on-by-default-in-Windows-XP#c632183710980000000 Sat, 24 Apr 2004 02:38:18 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/TheChannel9Team/Bill-Hill-Why-isnt-ClearType-on-by-default-in-Windows-XP#c632183710980000000 BinaryBoy Re: Bill Hill - Why isn't ClearType on by default in Windows XP?

posted by Jeremy W

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/TheChannel9Team/Bill-Hill-Why-isnt-ClearType-on-by-default-in-Windows-XP#c632186065730000000 Mon, 26 Apr 2004 20:02:53 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/TheChannel9Team/Bill-Hill-Why-isnt-ClearType-on-by-default-in-Windows-XP#c632186065730000000 Jeremy W Re: Bill Hill - Why isn't ClearType on by default in Windows XP?
ClearType as featured on the current version of XP does brilliantly for near-vertical features, but when it comes to near-horizontal features, it does a worse job than plain old 'font smoothing'. I understand that because of the way that ClearType works (and indeed the way that LCD panels are built) it's always going to do a better job of near-vertical stuff. But I don't see why it can't do at least as good a job on the near-horizontal features as normal anti-aliasing can achieve.

In fact I wrote a little test to illustrate how it's possible to do this:

 http://www.interact-sw.co.uk/iangblog/2004/03/10/iantype

(I'm not doing a great job on the colour filtering in this example, but it does illustrate what I mean about near-vertical features.) I'd be interested to know if anything like this might be coming to Longhorn. And if not, I'm interested to know if you've considered it, and came up against reasons why you just can't do this.

posted by IanG

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/TheChannel9Team/Bill-Hill-Why-isnt-ClearType-on-by-default-in-Windows-XP#c632187616900000000 Wed, 28 Apr 2004 15:08:10 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/TheChannel9Team/Bill-Hill-Why-isnt-ClearType-on-by-default-in-Windows-XP#c632187616900000000 IanG Re: Bill Hill - Why isn't ClearType on by default in Windows XP?
IanG wrote:

In fact I wrote a little test to illustrate how it's possible to do this:

 http://www.interact-sw.co.uk/iangblog/2004/03/10/iantype


That test looks fantastic, with refinement and a little correction to the colour fringes this would actually be better than ClearType. Bill does mention that the version of ClearType that will be in Longhorn is going to be a lot better than the one that was bolted on to XP, so maybe the techniques you describe here are being implemented.

What is remarkable is that your method looks good not only on LCDs but on CRTs. However, I'm dubious of it's credibility at small type size. Where ClearType wins (for me) is the ability to render 8 or 9 point type without the blurriness or font weight artifacts exhibited by normal antialiasing. If you post an example of "IanType" with a 9pt type size in Tahoma, that would be very interesting to see.

posted by Weevil

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/TheChannel9Team/Bill-Hill-Why-isnt-ClearType-on-by-default-in-Windows-XP#c632194386400000000 Thu, 06 May 2004 11:10:40 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/TheChannel9Team/Bill-Hill-Why-isnt-ClearType-on-by-default-in-Windows-XP#c632194386400000000 Weevil Re: Bill Hill - Why isn't ClearType on by default in Windows XP? posted by vanlandw

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/TheChannel9Team/Bill-Hill-Why-isnt-ClearType-on-by-default-in-Windows-XP#c632194428810000000 Thu, 06 May 2004 12:21:21 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/TheChannel9Team/Bill-Hill-Why-isnt-ClearType-on-by-default-in-Windows-XP#c632194428810000000 vanlandw Re: Bill Hill - Why isn't ClearType on by default in Windows XP? Yeah, I was one of those ones that posted on Scoble's site about how I don't like ClearType.  My LCDs are at native resolution, but I just can't deal with any color wackiness.  In fact, I bought my LCD just because the previous monitor I had was starting to crap out on me, so there were hardly-noticable shadows and whatnot.

My hope is that HD displays will be common enough that it won't matter much anymore, because there'll be so many more DPI that more traditional methods will produce results just as good and without the color blur.

But as I've said before, if you want to change something major like this, you really should just force it.  People adapt.

posted by sharprs

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/TheChannel9Team/Bill-Hill-Why-isnt-ClearType-on-by-default-in-Windows-XP#c632280832610000000 Sat, 14 Aug 2004 12:27:41 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/TheChannel9Team/Bill-Hill-Why-isnt-ClearType-on-by-default-in-Windows-XP#c632280832610000000 sharprs Re: Bill Hill - Why isn't ClearType on by default in Windows XP? Ready to lose weight? Tired of wasting money on fat loss diets that don't work? Try fat loss 4 idiots and start losing fat today. Fat Loss 4 Idiots is the top rated fat loss diet on the internet. Fat Loss 4 Idiots has helped people all over the world lose weight. So if you are serious about losing weight, it's time you try the Fat Loss 4 Idiots diet right away.........   

posted by fatman3

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/TheChannel9Team/Bill-Hill-Why-isnt-ClearType-on-by-default-in-Windows-XP#c634030985810000000 Tue, 02 Mar 2010 03:49:41 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/TheChannel9Team/Bill-Hill-Why-isnt-ClearType-on-by-default-in-Windows-XP#c634030985810000000 fatman3