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Topic: ClearType? Not so much... (Read 4315 times) previous topic - next topic

ClearType? Not so much...

I was forced to switch to XP reinstalling everything.

A friend suggested me to activate the ClearType option.
I installed ClearType Tuner PowerToy.exe, selected the cofiguration that looked better and then I forgot about it.

Sometimes I saw a strange "halo" on the chars and I wondered what was provoking it.
I use DVI and the native screen resolution exactly to avoid it!

Yesterday I was working with NWC and I saw the stem with a blurred color changing between the classic blue and a kind of purple.
Ouch, what happened to NWC?
Nothing I can blame NWC for!

I discovered that all the strange effects I was seeing were due to ClearType.
Deactivate it and everything returns perfect.

Just to let you know...

Re: ClearType? Not so much...

Reply #1 –
Quote from: Flurmy –
Nothing I can blame NWC for!
I discovered that all the strange effects I was seeing were due to ClearType.
Deactivate it and everything returns perfect.
Agreed, but some screens look much better with the proper ClearType setting. YMMV
Registered user since 1996
 

Re: ClearType? Not so much...

Reply #2 –
Rick, you're right.
There are occasions where the ClearType is really needed and others, like the ones I already described, in which it's awful.
So you must choose: having a good looking screen here and an awful there or the opposite...
The short cover.

Now I wonder: I don't remember having ever had that kind of problems with win2000. Why?
Can this be called an "enhancement"? :-)

Re: ClearType? Not so much...

Reply #3 –
Quote from: Flurmy –
Can this be called an "enhancement"? :-)
I think it is. Depends on your monitor. Cathode Ray Tube monitors have a "halo" effect and for the past 40 years, font designers and programmers have had to deal with it. This is what font "hinting", "greeking", and "smoothing" are all about. The newer Plasma and LED monitors have no "halo" effect. Clear Type is MicroSoft's way of displaying old font designs on new screens.

In time, I suspect that 200dpi (and greater) displays will be the norm and all this will be a quaint history :)
Printers have already evolved. 300dpi ink-jets produce "half-dots" to smooth edges. Hi-res printers don't need to.
Registered user since 1996

Re: ClearType? Not so much...

Reply #4 –
Could you please explain what do you mean with the "halo" of CRTs?

Re: ClearType? Not so much...

Reply #5 –
Quote from: Flurmy –
Could you please explain what do you mean with the "halo" of CRTs?
The dot is brightest at the center.
Registered user since 1996

Re: ClearType? Not so much...

Reply #6 –
Quote
The dot is brightest at the center.

Well... ok. Obvious effect of the upper limit of the allowed band.
But you must have very wide dots to see it! (Or a microscope eye :-)

Probably you mean that, being that the band is limited, you can not have a very crisp transistion between two horizontally adjacent pixels so indeed there is a halo.
The wider the band the better the display.

Ahem... Taking care of the context of the discussion, the band I'm talking about is NOT the musical band! ;-)