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.
Thread beginning with comment 528010
To view parent comment, click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
To view parent comment, click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
RE[5]: ClearType isn't coming back
by bouhko on Tue 24th Jul 2012 11:34
in reply to "RE[4]: ClearType isn't coming back"
Member since:2010-06-24
RE[5]: ClearType isn't coming back
by Bill Shooter of Bul on Tue 24th Jul 2012 13:42
in reply to "RE[4]: ClearType isn't coming back"
Member since:2006-07-14
1) Consistency of the text goes completely out of the window. I imagine that is fairly jarring to the user.
The entire display is being rotated 90! That is jarring enough to completely obscure any minor font rendering changes.
2) The font cache will have to be recreated for ClearType glyphs and non ClearType glyphs. Then the gui will also have to be redrawn with the new glyphs, etc.
How may hundreds of kilobytes would it take to have two font caches? Again the screen is being rotated 90 degrees, the entire display will have to be redrawn regardless.
Edited 2012-07-24 13:43 UTC
RE[6]: ClearType isn't coming back
by _txf_ on Tue 24th Jul 2012 14:19
in reply to "RE[5]: ClearType isn't coming back"
Member since:2008-03-17
The entire display is being rotated 90! That is jarring enough to completely obscure any minor font rendering changes.
So one way the fonts look good and the other look less good? What is the point of rotating the display, as people will only ever use it in the better looking orientation?
Minor changes in fonts tend to be easily detected and I'd hypothesize that most people would prefer to get used to a single less good (but consistent) representation as opposed to two differing representations of the same text. It would be an interesting test to try.
How may hundreds of kilobytes would it take to have two font caches? Again the screen is being rotated 90 degrees, the entire display will have to be redrawn regardless.
In many cases the screen only has to be composited again upon rotation(textures scaled or moved around). But often text will have to be reflowed (in large documents), so it is as you say (redrawn anyway). Two font caches are slightly more inefficient though.
Features
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/24/13 17:26 UTC
So, the Xbox One disaster continues. Microsoft's policy for dealing with the used games market has reportedly leaked - and it's a clear and direct attack to destroy the used games market. Prices for used games will be set at the retail value of a new game, and retailers have to hook into Microsoft's computer systems and comply with Microsoft's terms and conditions.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 21:38 UTC
At an event earlier today, Microsoft unveiled the next Xbox - the third model, but confusingly named Xbox One. The big focus was TV, integrated Kinect, and all the other stuff we all expected to be forced down our throats. I think it took them 25 minutes to actually come to what should be the core of the story: gaming. Nothing groundbreaking in the gaming department, except for how Microsoft intends to handle the used games market and borrowing games from friends: pay up, buddy!
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/20/13 11:29 UTC
The day has finally come! Jolla has finally announced the launch device for its Sailfish operating system - and by god this is a looker. It's decidedly different from other phones out there, but it has good specifications and carries a relatively reasonably price tag - EUR 399, and it's up for pre-order today, shipping in the fourth quarter of this year.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/18/13 21:33 UTC
Why does Google get so much credit in the technology industry? Why, despite the company's many obvious failings, do many geeks and enthusiasts still hold a somewhat positive view on the all-knowing technology giant? A specific talk at Google I/O this week provides the answer.
Linked by David Adams on 05/16/13 4:23 UTC
OSNews is a sponsor of this year's O'Reilly OSCON in Portland, Oregon, USA. A lucky OSNews reader will win a free three-day pass, including two tutorials days. To win the pass, post a comment on this story saying something about Open Source Software or OSCON. We'll pick a winner at random next week. If you don't have an OSNews account, you may email us your entry. Part of the conference is the 9th annual Open Source Awards, and today the 16th is the deadline for nominations. If you'd like to nominate an outstanding open source contributor, do it here. Read on for more information about OSCON. Update: The 20% discount code for OSNews readers is "OSN."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/11/13 21:41 UTC
"Windows is indeed slower than other operating systems in many scenarios, and the gap is worsening." That's one way to start an insider explanation of why Windows' performance isn't up to snuff. Written by someone who actually contributes code to the Windows NT kernel, the comment on Hacker News, later deleted but reposted with permission on Marc Bevand's blog, paints a very dreary picture of the state of Windows development. The root issue? Think of how Linux is developed, and you'll know the answer.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/08/13 14:22 UTC
This is one of those news items that's fun to write, fun to read, fun to comment on, and where no one will be able to say anything unkind. It's all just one big ball of awesome fluffiness. TuneTracker, the BeOS radio automation software, has just released something very special: TuneTracker System 5, the first version designed entirely and specifically for Haiku. In fact, it actually includes Haiku in the software package. Better yet, TuneTracker also unveiled several system-in-a-box products - which have Haiku and TuneTracker pre-installed.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/02/13 15:28 UTC
Exactly twenty years ago, a document was published that played a huge role in establishing the web as we know it today. Twenty years later, and this simple and straightforward document is proof of an irrefutable fact: while closed technologies can change markets, open technologies can change the world.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/29/13 21:06 UTC
Oh multitasking. That staple of computing that got thrown out the window with many modern smartphones. We got some rudimentary thing in its place - but even as multitasking on phone and tablets improves, its user-visible side remains cumbersome. Windows 8 has a neat implementation, and now it's time Android follows in it footsteps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/24/13 22:24 UTC
They're here! Whether that excites you or not remains to be seen, but the Galaxy S4, which will most likely become the best selling Android smartphone of the year by a huge margin, has been reviewed by all the major sites, and there's lots of interesting conclusions in there - although I think most of you will get the gist.More Features »
Sponsored Links
Member since:
2008-03-17
1) Consistency of the text goes completely out of the window. I imagine that is fairly jarring to the user.
2) The font cache will have to be recreated for ClearType glyphs and non ClearType glyphs. Then the gui will also have to be redrawn with the new glyphs, etc.