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Anti-alias vs. bitmap for the millionth time
Authored by: stokessd on Dec 17, '07 09:57:41AM
Is this going to go on forever? Some users want bitmaps, no matter how ugly or how little they look like the type design. I have been telling people for several years to stop looking at the pixels, back up and see the image. This is the future of computer displays. But I guess people don't change.

Maybe people have different needs for type than you do. I can promise you that when programming or writing text files (LaTex, Python, objective C, etc) anti-aliasing adds to eye strain and slows the readability of the information.

Sure, I can back up, so I can no loner see the functions I'm working on, then it's perfectly fine.

I have the highest resolution macbook pro, and eyes that still work well. For me, non-aliased is the way to go unless I'm doing page layout, but that's infrequent. I've paid for a crisp LCD display and I want crisp text, not fuzzy grey edges. I've played with levels of anti-aliasing, RGB order, I've played with the disaster that is MS cleartype. It's all universally worse than not having it for my needs.

You'll find a lot of people who do not like aliased text, especially when trying to read text in a text editor. I'm all for having the ability to have anti-aliased text, but I'm even more for the ability to turn that crap off.

Sheldon

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Anti-alias vs. bitmap for the millionth time
Authored by: Toadling on Dec 23, '07 09:01:27PM
Maybe people have different needs for type than you do. I can promise you that when programming or writing text files (LaTex, Python, objective C, etc) anti-aliasing adds to eye strain and slows the readability of the information.

That's not my experience at all. I stare at code in my text editor all day, 5 days a week, and I vastly prefer anti-aliasing for all my text. I also run a hi-res 17-inch MacBook Pro and have never felt the edges of the text to be blurry or hard on my eyes. Too the contrary, I find non-anti-aliased text to be weak, anemic, and flimsy, and it strains my eyes. Many of the developers I work with feel the same way.

So what does this tell you? You had it right in your first sentence: "people have different needs for type". So you can't categorically say that non-anti-aliased text is universally preferred for working with plain text and code. It's simply not true and offers a rather narrow view of reality.



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