Font smoothing: RGB vs BGR

Is it possible to setup font smoothing to consider monitor orientation?
When my iMac is placed normally, I get a very nice font smoothing as expected.
When I rotate the iMac 180°, I get nasty color bleeding and the text is harder to read.
In windows there is a setup utility to configure this correctly, is there something similar for OS X?

You can disable sub-pixel rendering by selecting CRT from the popup menu. That's pretty much all the configuration you get.

Similar Messages

Is Cleartype able to support both RGB and BGR sub pixel panel displays at the same time?

Hi,
I am using 2 27' LED displays on my PC. One has RGB sub pixel, the other has BGR sub pixel.
I have problem to tune the font using Cleartype. I have tried to tune all displays a few times and always get the following result.
If I use the RGB one as the primary display, the font on the RGB display looks ok but the font on the BGR display looks weird after tuning using cleartype.
If I use the BGR display as the primary, the font on the BGR display looks ok but the font on the RGB display looks weird after tuning using cleartype.
Basicly, the after tuning with Cleartype, the font on the Primary display looks good but on the other looks weird.
I have also tested with single display setup. i.e. connect only the RGB sub pixel display or the
BGR sub pixel display.
ClearType tuning works well for single display setup no matter which display I have connected.
But once I connect the 2nd display and tune using Cleartype, the font on the Primary display looks good but on the other looks weird. (The same as above)
To be more specific, the RGB display is Philips 278C4 (connect using HDMI), the BGR display is Dell P2714H (connect using DisplayPort. I have also tried DVI. DisplayPort or DVI give same result).
My system is Win 8.1 Pro x64 JA-JP with all latest patches installed, and my graphic card is nVidia GTX 760, with the latest driver installed.
I suspect this is due to one display has RGB sub pixel panel, and the other has BGR sub pixel panel, which means
Windows ClearType need to take care both RGB and BGR for at the same time. I am not sure if this is fully supported by Windows 8.1 ClearType.
Is there any solution or workaround to make the font on both displays looks nice?
Thanks.

Hi,
Windows includes several technologies to render text on the screen. These include Windows GDI, Direct Write and Windows Presentation Foundation.
Windows GDI is limited to using one set of ClearType settings per system
while the other two support different settings per display.
It depends. Most LCD screens have a RGB striping order. A very small number have a striping order of BGR.
For more question, refer to this link:
ClearType FAQ
http://www.microsoft.com/typography/ClearTypeFAQ.mspx
Kate Li
TechNet Community Support

Font smoothing issue between built-in display and external

Ok, this one is a bit tricky to explain, but here we go. I have a Macbook 2.2 C2D and a 24" FHD2400 Gateway LCD which I connect using the mini-DVI port. My problem is that any applications I start with the external display plugged in have slightly "thinner" text (on both displays), like the font smoothing is different. But, applications that were already running look smoother and thicker on both displays. Further, even after disconnecting the external display, the thinner text persists until I restart the application.
As a real example, I was running Safari with just the main LCD. I plugged in the external, and it looked fine. I restarted Safari (now with the external plugged in) and the text appears thinner. Unplugging the external, the text still appears thinner on the main LCD until I restart it again.
Here is a photo, where the left side is the thinner text, and the right is the normal, thicker text:
Any insight/advice on this would be much appreciated.
* Note: I run the main LCD in native resolution (1280x800) and the 24" in native (1920x1200)
Message was edited by: Chris Scharf (added screen resolution information)

Under System Preferences, Appearance, try setting "Font smoothing style: to "Medium - best for Flat Panel" and see if that helps.

Font smoothing and connections

Hope this is the best place to post this. I have a new Dell s2209w monitor connected to my Macbook (which I run in clamshell to get the full resolution of 1920x1080.) I'd been using it with a mini-DVI to VGA connector and it looked good, but just changed tonight to a mini-Dvi to DVI. I'd understood there would be some advantage to doing so.
So I'm now DVI, running full-resolution, all calibrated... and my fonts are all blocky. Everywhere in snow leopard, regardless of program or font, they've all become blocky and not smooth, system fonts, custom fonts, etc. I've tried turning on and turning off font smoothing, and it doesn't seem to make any difference. I've sometimes seen Macs in the apple store look like this, with their fonts.
Suggestions?

I have the same issue on my HP monitor.
You may be able to try this:
http://blog.petersendidit.com/post/blurry-text-on-external-monitor-with-snow-leo pard/
It did not work for me though.

Font in GTK2 apps are not using font smoothing in cinnamon. GTK3 does.

Hi,
My GTK2 apps like GIMP, chromium fonts are not really using font smoothing but GTK3 apps look fine.
Any help is appreciated.

Chazza wrote:Does the following application help at all? Link: http://qt-apps.org/content/show.php/Qt5 … ent=168066
Yes, unfortunately this did not fix the problem. I did put the environmental variable in .profile and relogged, the result was unfortunately the same. I've managed to fix fonts in Clementine using qtconfig-qt4 after some fiddling, but applications like Docky and Chromium still have the monospace font.
cedeel wrote:Eh, Chromium isn't a Qt application.
Ah, my bad. Do you know of a way to fix that problem anyway?

Font smoothing in Forms 10g

Hello,
Compared to the application running under 6i, the same application running under 10g shows fonts with jagged edges. From what I have found on the forum, this seems to be because of the JAVA fonts mapping in the applet.
Is there any way to introduce some smoothing or something similar to ANTIALIASING in JAVA.
I have tried clientDPI in basejini.htm but this does not help.
Thanks.

Hello,
Thanks but I already checked the papers related to Forms 10g (new functionalities etc...). I am just trying to see whether there are any parameters to use in formsweb.cfg, registry.dat that might help with the font smoothing.
Thanks

Font Smoothing + Relative Positioning = Problem

Hello,
I ran across a strange inconsistency while designing a relative position based layout.
My page has two divs, both relative positioned for height. They do not overlap. The page renders excellent in Firefox 3.5, and not bad in Chrome (though a little different from FF). Safari however pushes my second div down too far.
I found that by disabling font smoothing (or rather switching it to anything besides "windows standard") fixes this issue. However there isn't even any actual text on the site, at all. There's 4 images, a couple input fields and a submit button.
I can post some of the code, or example screenshots of what's happening. I've tried a couple css hacks to target safari (without targeting chrome) with no success. Anybody have any advice?
Thanks,
Tom

Please disreard...
I got it figured out. I just moved the paragraph tag outside
of the table
and changed the position from bottom:50% to top:50%
once the <p> was moved out of the table, it's normal
position would be at
the very top. So, I moved it 50% down from the top using
relative
positioning. Being inside the table caused it to not work in
Gecko? I
wonder why?
"-D-" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:f7fr0d$jb8$[email protected]..
> I'm using relative positioning for an <p> tag that
is positioned normally
> at the bottom of a table cell "valign="bottom".
>
> I set the paragraph tag to <p
>
style="position:relative;bottom:50%;text-align:center;line-height:1.6em;">
>
> so, the text will position itself 50% from the bottom
positioning. This
> works fine in IE, but Mozilla and Netscape still
position the text at the
> bottom of the table cell.
>
> Here is the test page to see what is happening:
>
http://www.dwayneepps.com/contact.aspx
>
> fill out the form and click send to see the problem.
>
> Thanks for any help.
>

Font smoothing, font sizing, sub-pixel tuning, OS X vs Windows

I have a query regarding font the font smoothing implementation in OS X.
Having just come from the Windows world (using ClearType) naturally comparisons will be made. I am trying to get fonts looking as readable as possible on my Mac. I have 19" LCD connected via DVI so would expect no issues there. It seems difficult to get fonts looking... crisp. I am starting from the basis of using font smoothing across the board as recommended. Turn off smoothing is set to font size 8 or smaller.
I note with respect to tuning of font smoothing (anti-aliasing) that there is not a 'fine tuning' tool like as made available on Windows...
http://www.microsoft.com/typography/cleartype/tuner/Step1.aspx
for the Mac. At least I can't find anything Googling. And I am not thinking of TinkerTool as that is not a fine tuner. The Windows ClearType tuner can really make a noticeable difference by adjusting the sub-pixel tuning. Is there any equivalent tool/configuration option available for Macs?

You must have extremely good vision to be able to
tell the enhacement made by ClearType on XGA or
better displays. I wish my eyesight is as good as
yours.
Well by your own admission you must be half blind, and I think you must be if you can't see the difference between - and let's be precise about this - no anti-aliasing vs. anti-aliasing +- sub-pixel rendering. Whether on Windows and/or OS X. There is.
Subpixel rendering is a trick used when resolution of
displays are challenged and small font readability is
crucial.
Today, the only place this makes sense is on
cell phones when you are trying to render small type
like a webpage.
I believe the website links I posted show that I have a reasonable grasp of what sub-pixel rendering is, that was not the purpose of my question. Also, actually, you are incorrect when you state that sub-pixel rendering is relevant/necessary only for small fonts. The exact opposite is true - usually sub-pixel rendering (including in OS X) is turned off for small fonts because it tends to make them more unreadable.
On desktop displays today at XGA or greater resolution,
the tradeoff in enhancing a bit in resolution is
outweighed by the added computation cycles needed to
filter the entire display so the eye sees "grey" on
average rather than red or green or blue.
Well you better rush and tell Apple to rip it out of OS X... because they seem to disagree with you as both anti-aliasing and sub-pixel rendering are included, and encouraged to be used, in OS X!
I'm sorry, but your statements are just plainly wrong and unconsidered.
Back to my - still unanswered, factual and valid question. The implementation of anti-aliasing + sub-pixel rendering in OS X does not appear, and I am stating this unbiasedly, to be as good as it could be (as I have seen in Windows). BTW this is not solely my finding as a number of very experienced Mac users have pointed out:
Here...
http://www.michelf.com/weblog/2006/subpixel-antialiasing-achilles-heel/
and here...
http://www.betalogue.com/2006/01/24/pages-20-does-not-fix-font-smoothing-issue/
and here...
http://mjtsai.com/blog/2006/02/04/font-smoothing-in-pages/
I gather from the replies I have received thus far, and from research on the Internet, that there is currently no way - going into Unix config files or by some utility - to address this issue. Hopefully it will be improved in a later version of OS X.
BTW - this does not stop me loving my new Mac!

Font smoothing under OSX -- revisited

Under OS9, there's a window where the font smoothing is turned OFF. This is needed to print out music so both the note heads and the note stems will print. (With the font smoothing, only the note heads print.)
I can't find anyplace to turn OFF the font smoothing totally, so I can get my music printed, under the OS 10.3.9 system. When I posted this in 2005, someone suggested to look at the Appearance menu under the System Preferences, however that only talks about turning off the font smoothing for different sizes of font. I need it turned OFF totally! Any other suggestions?

Hi,
TinkerTool gives you the option to turn if off.
http://www.bresink.com/osx/TinkerTool.html
John

Font smoothing under OSX

Under OS9, there's a window where the font smoothing is turned OFF. This is needed to print out music so both the note heads and the note stems will print. (With the font smoothing, only the note heads print.)
I can't find anyplace to turn OFF the font smoothing totally, so I can get my music printed, under the OS 10.3.9 system. Any suggestions?
G3 Mac OS X (10.3.9)
G3 Mac OS X (10.3.9)
G3 Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Built in options are in System Preferences --> Appearance.
If those don't work you, then download and use Tinker Tool.

Font Smoothing GONE--Help!!!

I'm running 10.6.2, and I pretty much have ZERO font smoothing whenever I ctrl-mouse zoom on any menu, any text, any program. This is on my MacBook Pro (2 years old) that had perfect font smoothing in Leopard.
I've turned off the CRT checkbox in System Preferences—doesn't help
I've used Terminal to run defaults -currentHost write -globalDomain AppleFontSmoothing -int 1 and also tried 2 and 3 and even reverting to defaults—doesn't help
I've used Font Book to validate fonts and remove duplicates (especially after Office 2004 install)—doesn't help
I've also rebooted after all these operations—still almost zilch smoothing on zoom
Even Finder looks AWFUL
Help! My MBP looks like crap now!

That sounds good. A lot of tests to run! Hate to do the new user test, but will if I have to.
I am really leaning toward the Option-Command-"\" having (unintentionally) turned OFF Screen Zoom (under mouse or trackpad) Image Smoothing.
How could it take me so long to learn that there is Font Smoothing, and there is Image Smoothing. TWO DIFFERENT THINGS.
The Chain of Blame here is so convoluted it hurts my brain.
1. Evernote was trying to reinstall web clipping and/or its Safari plug-in ever since I converted to Snow Leopard. (Massive evidence of this in Console error messages, and they are hilarious: "Can't get Elephant!" and "Can't install icon!" over and over and over again. Just give it up, Evernote!)
2. So one day Evernote's interference with Safari messes up my executing the Option-Command-"\" command to log into my bank (it's normally a 1Password keyboard shortcut that works great in Safari).
3. Option-Command-"\" reverts back to its "normal" designation (turn on/off Screen Zoom (under mouse or trackpad) Image Smoothing).
4. I hit Option-Command-"\" repeatedly, trying to get the 1Password HUD to pop up in Safari. It doesn't.
5. By hitting Option-Command-"\" so many times, I unintentionally turn off Screen Zoom Image Smoothing. Only I don't realize it.
If this theory IS correct, then it's a simple fix!
The lesson learned would be:
System Preferences, Personal, Appearance, Font Smoothing
is a DIFFERENT preference from
System Preferences, Mouse/Trackpad, (Two Fingers), Screen Zoom, Options, Smooth Images
Of course, I'll report back just as soon as my SuperDuper backup finishes and I can try this test.
And if this IS the problem, well, I blame it on the elephant.

Font Smoothing makes everything blurry

I just tried Safari 3.1 beta for Windows Vista for the first time and found ALL levels of font smoothing to make my fonts blurry making it unusable. I use a 17" laptop lcd monitor and the "CRT" setting is the least blurry. Any way to turn this off completely?

They didn't fix the font problem?
HAHAHA. I posted about this, and submitted bug reports and they still didn't fix it?
Uh... why does version 3.01 not have this problem?
Wow. It boggles the mind. I'm not going to install 3.1 if the fonts look fine in 3.01.
I'm very unhappy with this development. What a joke.

Font smoothing doesn't seem to work...

...despite having "Font Smoothing" checked in Text Preferences. Or is this simply a quirk of Appleworks?

Hello
It may be confusing but I will not call that a quirk, only a feature
The AppleWorks "font smoothing" preference was defined in the old time when the characters where drawn thru QuickDraw.
I didn't check but I assumes that it does its duty when running under Mac OS 8 - 9 or Classic.
When used under MacOS X, the characters are drawn using Quartz.
AppleWorks is unable to call the Quartz's font smoothing tool.
As far as I know, the only way to get it is to install the commercial tool named Silk (from Unsanity).
Yvan KOENIG (from FRANCE mardi 1 mai 2007 11:53:58)

Font smoothing settings doesn't consistently work for every login on Windows 2008 R2 when using a RDP client

I'm trying to use the MSTSC client on a Windows 8.1 machine to connect to a Windows 2008 R2 server. In the MSTSC experience tab I checked the font smoothing option. Font smoothing works some times and doesn't work the other times. I don't see a pattern here.
any kind of help is much appreciated.
Thanks,
Prasanna

Hi Prasanna,
Thank you for posting in Windows Server Forum.
As you have Server 2008 R2, there is GPO setting available to specify whether font smoothing is allowed for remote connections.
Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Remote Desktop Services\Remote Desktop Session Host\Remote Session Environment
Do not allow font smoothing
If you disable or do not configure this policy setting, font smoothing is allowed for remote connections.
You can configure font smoothing on the Experience tab in Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) or by using the {allow font smoothing:i:1} setting in a Remote Desktop Protocol (.rdp) file.
Hope it helps!
Thanks.
Dharmesh Solanki
TechNet Community Support
Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help. If you have feedback for TechNet Support, contact [email protected]

Font smoothing issues

Hi all. I noticed some others were complaining about font smoothing not seeming to work in Carbon applications (e.g. Camino, Firefox, MS Word and even iTunes). It seems the subpixel font-aliasing system preference (e.g. light) is ignored and, instead, the ugly CRT font smoothing is used.
I am puzzled this has not received a lot of attention, since it immediately bothered me when I received my Macbook Pro today.
Is everyone experiencing this font smoothing problem? I used the Migration Assistant to copy all files from my previous (Tiger-installed) Powerbook. Does anyone not having used the Migration Assistant also suffer from the font smoothing issue?
For more info, see http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=1829478&#1829478
Macbook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.6)

TinkerTool didn't make any difference for me. I played around with it and found that there was no improvements using it or disabling font smoothing.
I have watched DVD's on this LCD being played with my MacBook. I have seen 2MB+ full screen digital pictures. Both the DVD and digital pics look absolutely amazing on it.
It's only the fonts that appear blurry or in some areas they appear to have a shadown to the right. This happens with any text that appears in every app.
Keep in mind too, Windows Vista looks perfect on this display, but my prized MacBook looks really sub-par.
I'm not quite following you on changing the display preferences to change to pixel size to that of the MacBook...

Font smoothing: RGB vs BGR

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