Subpixel font rendering in gutsy
For the gutsy beta release, we will be experimenting with some changes to our font rendering that is believed to produce significantly better results on LCD screens. Obviously fonts are a very subjective issue, so we're using the beta to get feedback about whether to enable it permanently or perhaps have it as an option. Please use the thread on the Ubuntu Forums to follow up and express your preference: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=555964 First you need to have an LCD screen, this applies to all laptops and most modern desktops too. Next you need to be running gutsy, and up to date. If you haven't logged out since you updated, probably a good idea to do that and log back in again so that everything is using the new rendered. Now go to System -> Preferences -> Appearance and select the Fonts tab, check the "Subpixel smoothing (LCDs)" option if it is not already. Compare with "Best shapes" and "Best contrast", you should notice a significant difference. Click the "Details..." button, make sure the "Subpixel (LCDs)" Smoothing option is set, and set the "Full" Hinting option. Compare with the "Slight" Hinting option, which is better? If you find that there's significant "ghosting" of the text, try adjusting the "Subpixel Order". Very small (12px in height and less) Monospace fonts (such as those used by gnome-terminal) will not be rendered this way because several users have expressed dislike of the effect; if you want to see whether you prefer them with the effect, remove the /etc/fonts/conf.d/53-monospace-lcd-filter.conf symbolic link and restart gnome-terminal (you need to close them all to do this). If you prefer terminal fonts without subpixel rendering, the symbolic link can be replaced by linking back to the file of the same name in /etc/fonts/conf.avail Scott -- Scott James Remnant [EMAIL PROTECTED] signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part -- Ubuntu-devel-discuss mailing list Ubuntu-devel-discuss@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel-discuss
Re: Subpixel font rendering in gutsy
On Thu, 2007-09-20 at 23:45 +0100, Scott James Remnant wrote: > Very small (12px in height and less) Monospace fonts (such as those used > by gnome-terminal) will not be rendered this way because several users > have expressed dislike of the effect; if you want to see whether you > prefer them with the effect, remove > the /etc/fonts/conf.d/53-monospace-lcd-filter.conf symbolic link and > restart gnome-terminal (you need to close them all to do this). I really, really can't help but feel that we are making a mess of this by specifically singling out Bitstream Vera Mono. Other fonts have single-pixel-wide stems too, and at many different sizes, and in many different configurations of size and hinting settings. -- Ubuntu-devel-discuss mailing list Ubuntu-devel-discuss@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel-discuss
Re: Subpixel font rendering in gutsy
Scott James Remnant wrote: > Click the "Details..." button, make sure the "Subpixel (LCDs)" Smoothing > option is set, and set the "Full" Hinting option. > > Compare with the "Slight" Hinting option, which is better? I like full hinting most, because it does not create all kinds of funny colors. It is more readable for me. > If you find that there's significant "ghosting" of the text, try > adjusting the "Subpixel Order". This just shuffles the colors around, it does not cure the problem. Regards, Andreas -- Ubuntu-devel-discuss mailing list Ubuntu-devel-discuss@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel-discuss
Re: Subpixel font rendering in gutsy
On Sep 21, 2007, at 12:29 PM, Alex Jones wrote: On Thu, 2007-09-20 at 23:45 +0100, Scott James Remnant wrote: Very small (12px in height and less) Monospace fonts (such as those used by gnome-terminal) will not be rendered this way because several users have expressed dislike of the effect; if you want to see whether you prefer them with the effect, remove the /etc/fonts/conf.d/53-monospace-lcd-filter.conf symbolic link and restart gnome-terminal (you need to close them all to do this). I really, really can't help but feel that we are making a mess of this by specifically singling out Bitstream Vera Mono. Other fonts have single-pixel-wide stems too, and at many different sizes, and in many different configurations of size and hinting settings. If this problem is specific to the terminal, perhaps a better solution would be radio buttons in gnome-terminal's preferences. Font smoothing: (*) Normal ( ) None Cheers -- Matthew Paul Thomas http://mpt.net.nz/ PGP.sig Description: This is a digitally signed message part -- Ubuntu-devel-discuss mailing list Ubuntu-devel-discuss@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel-discuss
Re: Subpixel font rendering in gutsy
Am 26.09.2007 um 12:26 schrieb Matthew Paul Thomas: > On Sep 21, 2007, at 12:29 PM, Alex Jones wrote: >> >> On Thu, 2007-09-20 at 23:45 +0100, Scott James Remnant wrote: >>> >>> Very small (12px in height and less) Monospace fonts (such as >>> those used by gnome-terminal) will not be rendered this way >>> because several users have expressed dislike of the effect; if >>> you want to see whether you prefer them with the effect, remove >>> the /etc/fonts/conf.d/53-monospace-lcd-filter.conf symbolic link and >>> restart gnome-terminal (you need to close them all to do this). >> >> I really, really can't help but feel that we are making a mess of >> this by specifically singling out Bitstream Vera Mono. >> >> Other fonts have single-pixel-wide stems too, and at many >> different sizes, and in many different configurations of size and >> hinting settings. > > If this problem is specific to the terminal, perhaps a better > solution would be radio buttons in gnome-terminal's preferences. It's specific to small glyphs (rendered fonts). Even Mac OS X features a user-visible threshold for disabling font smoothing. It's set to 9 pixels by default. Markus - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Dipl. Ing. Markus Hitter http://www.jump-ing.de/ -- Ubuntu-devel-discuss mailing list Ubuntu-devel-discuss@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel-discuss
