[geeks] X font rendering, was Re: [rescue] Sun Kit Needed for EE Student Here

[Charles Shannon Hendrix]

Mon, 15 May 2006 @ 18:04 -0400, der Mouse said:

> >> Well, I don't know what XRender provides, but base X font handling
> >> *can't* do antialiased fonts.
> > I assume what you mean is that the X server sans extensions and new
> > libraries doesn't do antialiased fonts.
> 
> Yes: base X, X according to just the core X11 protocol.  It has fairly
> strict rendering rules, and they do not permit doing antialiasing when
> drawing characters.
> 
> I'm not sure whether I like antialiasing for fonts; I suspect I'd like
> it about when the screen resolution gets fine enough that I no longer
> need it. :-)  (I do think it is good to have it available, though.)

I don't like antialiasing because it makes characters fuzzy.  How much
depends on the algorithm and the font being used.

If I view PDFs for very long, it starts to bother me a lot.

Subpixel rendering does the smoothing without making it fuzzy. I can't believe
I've had a monitor that could support it all these years and didn't know it.

Subpixel rendering requires a column ordered graphics display like a Trinitron
CRT or an LCD flat panel. I have a Sony display so it works for me. It might
also work on Mitsubishi CRT displays, I can't remember how their screen is
physically.

To get fonts smooth with just resolution alone requires far higher resolution
screens than we have now.

I mean, generally speaking you need 1200dpi on a printer before resolution
alone makes all fonts smooth, and even then some printers like my HP 1320 also
offer microdots to enhance resolution even further.

Imagine 20 inches of 1200dpi on a display.  That's a lot of pixels.

Given that fonts look pretty good at 120dpi, I don't suppose we need it.
However, one should be careful and not say never.

I started out with 22dpi (Atari 800, 14-inch screen) in 1983, and now I have
120dpi. Who knows where it will end up in time.

> > However, I didn't think Monaco had any pixels outside its bounding
> > box.
> 
> I don't know offhand; I am not familiar enough with it to know without
> checking, and I don't have it to check as far as I can tell;
> "xlsfonts | grep -i monaco" returns nothing.

Monaco is a Mac font.  I think there are free versions out there.



-- 
shannon "AT" widomaker.com -- ["Meddle not in the affairs of Wizards, for
thou art crunchy, and taste good with ketchup." -- unknown]