Informal poll, which font rendering do you prefer?

[daveisadork]

http://img.davehayes.org/compare-standard.png

http://img.davehayes.org/compare.png

The top one is standard sized and the bottom is blown up a bit to expose some of the more subtle differences. So, just as the title states, which of the above font renderings do you prefer? Which one is your least favorite? What do you like and dislike about each of them? After a little bit of discussion I'll reveal where each of the 3 came from. If you're wondering, the text is from http://www.apple.com/mac and the font is Lucida Grande.

:popcorn:

[karellen]

the one in the middle (and as technology, I prefer cleartype for smoothing and anti-aliasing)

[Footissimo]

Yeah, I prefer the middle one too - would go for 'smooth' rather than 'sharp'

[Tom Mann]

I like the left one, the middle one looks too dark and the right one looks too light, almost malformed. (look at the m)

[jgrabham]

The two at the sides look like mistakes, the middle one!

[init1]

The middle. It's the darkest one.

[Spr0k3t]

I like the thin and clean look. I'd go with the one on the right.

[use a name]

No 2. :)

[Al Fairclough]

Left.

[gabng]

Left. x2

[daveisadork]

Well this is kind of interesting. I hadn't expected so many people to prefer the left rendering, which is Epiphany on Ubuntu Feisty. The middle on is Safari 3 on OS X 10.4 and the right one is IE7 on Windows XP with ClearType.

[juxtaposed]

MIddle, probably.

[v8YKxgHe]

I'd say the left one - the middle IMO is to bold.

[bobbocanfly]

The middle one followed closely by the Left had one.

The right hand side one is just too light and frail

[starcraft.man]

Just subtle differences, all are readable IMO and I take what I can get. That said, I really don't like the one on the right (I turn off clear type wherever I go) and if I had to pick only one its the left one I think I'd pick. Honestly though, long as I can read it its fine I think.

[reclusivemonkey]

Out of the three options on show, definitely the left. However I think my rendering is better than all three ;-)

[reacocard]

Left is best of the shown, but I like mine better. (see attachment) It's firefox in Ubuntu 7.04, with libfreetype upgraded with the subpixel rendering patches.

[starcraft.man]

Left is best of the shown, but I like mine better. (see attachment) It's firefox in Ubuntu 7.04, with libfreetype upgraded with the subpixel rendering patches.

Your text does look better... maybe I should give that a try. You did this fix (http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Feisty#How_to_improve_sub-pixel_font_rendering_for_Feisty) right?

[daveisadork]

Left is best of the shown, but I like mine better. (see attachment) It's firefox in Ubuntu 7.04, with libfreetype upgraded with the subpixel rendering patches.

I would be interested to see how yours does when using the correct font. Would you mind installing Lucida Grande and making a new screenshot?

[reacocard]

Your text does look better... maybe I should give that a try. You did this fix (http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Feisty#How_to_improve_sub-pixel_font_rendering_for_Feisty) right?

Not quite. I used those freetype packages, but not the cairo or xft packages from the repo (they make it worse).

After installing them, do a

sudo dpkg-reconfigure fontconfig-config
selecting 'Autohinter', 'Automatic', and 'No' in that oder. Then do

sudo dpkg-reconfigure-fontconfig
for the above to take effect. Then open System -> Preferences -> Font and choose 'Subpixel smoothing'. FInally, place the following in /home/<username>/.fonts.conf

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE fontconfig SYSTEM "fonts.dtd">
<!-- /etc/fonts/local.conf file for local customizations -->
<fontconfig>
<!-- If the font is bold, turn off autohinting -->
<match target="font">
<test name="weight" compare="more"><const>medium</const></test>
<edit mode="assign" name="autohint"><bool>false</bool></edit>
</match>
</fontconfig>
Log out and back in, and the fonts should be like mine. The repo packages appear to have changed since I installed mine, so idk if it'll be exactly the same, but they should be similar.

[starcraft.man]

Ok, thanks for that... I took SS from two different sites (Forum this thread first and then Ubuntu guide). I didn't change any fonts or any settings other than what was in the two guides (ubuntuguide's and reacocard's). I'll put them all here and you can judge.

Forums (Old/Guide/Reacocard)
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b324/FFManiac1/ForumOLD.png

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b324/FFManiac1/ForumNEW.png

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b324/FFManiac1/ForumSECOND.png

UbuntuGuide (Old/Guide/Reacocard)
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b324/FFManiac1/GuideOLD.png

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b324/FFManiac1/GuideNEW.png

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b324/FFManiac1/GuideSECOND.png

I'm not sure which I like best just yet, I'll stare at them for a while... I just put it up for people to see... >.>

[starcraft.man]

Ok, thanks for that... I took SS from two different sites (Forum this thread first and then Ubuntu guide). I didn't change any fonts or any settings other than what was in the two guides (ubuntuguide's and reacocard's). I'll put them all here and you can judge.

Forums (Old/Guide/Reacocard)
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b324/FFManiac1/ForumOLD.png

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b324/FFManiac1/ForumNEW.png

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b324/FFManiac1/ForumSECOND.png

UbuntuGuide (Old/Guide/Reacocard)
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b324/FFManiac1/GuideOLD.png

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b324/FFManiac1/GuideNEW.png

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b324/FFManiac1/GuideSECOND.png

I'm not sure which I like best just yet, I'll stare at them for a while... I just put it up for people to see... >.>

Oh and its not the same font as you were using Dave, its the same one consistently through... maybe I should get this Lucida font you like and try that...

[christhemonkey]

I preferred the left one if the informal poll is still open!

[reacocard]

Ok, thanks for that... I took SS from two different sites (Forum this thread first and then Ubuntu guide). I didn't change any fonts or any settings other than what was in the two guides (ubuntuguide's and reacocard's). I'll put them all here and you can judge.

Forums (Old/Guide/Reacocard)
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b324/FFManiac1/ForumOLD.png

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b324/FFManiac1/ForumNEW.png

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b324/FFManiac1/ForumSECOND.png

UbuntuGuide (Old/Guide/Reacocard)
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b324/FFManiac1/GuideOLD.png

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b324/FFManiac1/GuideNEW.png

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b324/FFManiac1/GuideSECOND.png

I'm not sure which I like best just yet, I'll stare at them for a while... I just put it up for people to see... >.>

Glad it worked. The reason I like mine over the guide default is mine are less blurry. Some people may prefer the soft edges, but I like my fonts crisp.

[mech7]

middle