Linked by Thom Holwerda on Mon 23rd Jul 2012 21:28 UTC
A very detailed post at the Building Windows 8 blog about the graphics subsystem in Windows 8 - very interesting. One part stood out to me, though: "The Metro style design language is typographically rich and a number of Metro style experiences are focused on providing an excellent reading experience. DirectWrite enables great typographic quality, super-fast processing of font data for rendering, and provides industry-leading global text support. We've continued to improve text performance in Windows 8 by optimizing our default text rendering in Metro style apps to deliver better performance and efficiency, while maintaining typographic quality and global text support." All this still doesn't explain why text rendering on Metro (so not the classic desktop) had to be made as horrible as it is. Please, for the love of god, give us the option of turning ClearType's subpixel RGB optimisation back on for Metro applications. Fonts look horrible without it, which is kind of ironic given how font-heavy Metro is.
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RE: ClearType isn't coming back
by Bill Shooter of Bul on Mon 23rd Jul 2012 22:08
in reply to "ClearType isn't coming back"
Member since:2006-07-14
Isn't Pentile essentially doing the same thing as cleartype ( manipulating the subpixels for maximum clarity)?
I'd point out that Windows 8's metro interface isn't just for tablets or phones, but actual desktops. I cannot buy a high ~200 DPI display, that I'm aware of.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_displays_by_pixel_density
There is one listed at 3840×2400, that would work below, but I can't figure out where to buy it new. Amazon has a couple used for $1600:
http://www.amazon.com/IBM-T221-22-2-3840x2400-Monitor/dp/B00006HS5R
In any case I'm guessing most people don't have them right now. So Cleartype would help them.
RE[2]: ClearType isn't coming back
by tomcat on Mon 23rd Jul 2012 22:40
in reply to "RE: ClearType isn't coming back"
Member since:2006-01-06
RE[2]: ClearType isn't coming back
by _txf_ on Tue 24th Jul 2012 07:57
in reply to "RE: ClearType isn't coming back"
Member since:2008-03-17
Isn't Pentile essentially doing the same thing as cleartype ( manipulating the subpixels for maximum clarity)?
Nope. Pentile is a way of organizing subpixels in (eg. RGBG) so there is a 1:1 ratio of pixels to green subpixels but RB pixels are at a lower ratio.
This allows for AMOLED screens to be fabricated more easily and exploits the fact that the eye is most sensitive to green. This arrangement leads to an acceptable display, but not great and fringing can often be seen around text.
ClearType on the other hand is a way of drawing fonts and exploiting the subpixel arrangement of the display (and aligning drawing operation to the pixel grid). AFAIK ClearType only works on RGB type pixel arrangements.
so tl;dr
PenTile is a hardware manufacturing technology designed to save costs. (and in fact tends to reduce clarity when compared to RGB).
ClearType is a software technology designed to maximise clarity, exploiting the subpixel geometry of the display.
Edited 2012-07-24 08:02 UTC
RE: ClearType isn't coming back
by Declination5 on Mon 23rd Jul 2012 23:00
in reply to "ClearType isn't coming back"
Member since:2012-06-08
RE[2]: ClearType isn't coming back
by tomcat on Tue 24th Jul 2012 01:33
in reply to "RE: ClearType isn't coming back"
Member since:2006-01-06
Also, I Windows 8 is meant to support the use case for rotated monitors in landscape/portrait. ClearType isn't going to work when the sub pixel arrangement is constantly changing.
That's very true. ClearType is dependent on precise vertical alignment. Rotating the display completely destroys its usefulness.
RE: ClearType isn't coming back
by Fergy on Tue 24th Jul 2012 07:22
in reply to "ClearType isn't coming back"
Member since:2006-04-10
ClearType is gone forever. It's not needed on ~200DPI displays and worse than useless on Pentile displays. Microsoft clearly thinks these are the future, so is pulling an Apple and forcing people to buy new hardware to get the most out of Windows 8.
I bought my 24 inch Dells with 1920x1200 for 450 euro each. Where can I get that 200DPI monitor? I would love to get a 24 inch 3840x2400 version for 450 or even 600 euro.
Features
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Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/24/13 22:24 UTC
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ClearType is gone forever. It's not needed on ~200DPI displays and worse than useless on Pentile displays. Microsoft clearly thinks these are the future, so is pulling an Apple and forcing people to buy new hardware to get the most out of Windows 8.