Thanks for the suggestion, Dinoboff, but it's still blurry after that. Looks like it should check if I have clear type switched on already, and only try to do it's own smoothing if it's switched off (although I have to say it doesn't look great with clear type off either, not really sure there's a difference).
For anyone who's having trouble with the fonts on the Windows version of Safari 3.0, this article should help:
http://www.markrushworth.com/template_permalink.asp?id=148
Fonts in Safari on OSX are a beautiful sight! If they are not beautiful on your system, blame your fonts, your monitor, driver... Or, I could just blame Safari instead, because that's where the problem is. Note that's it's the Windows version of Safari I'm blaming, not Safari in general.
The question is not about which font rendering is better: the osX one or the Windows one. They are different and when you are used to one, the other one hurt your eyes.
The problem here, is that Safari on windows doesn't render fonts like the other windows programs, so each time you switch from one program to safari, that hurts. That makes safari less usable and I hope they will change that.
I remember when I first saw anti-aliased text on a screen, it looked weird at first. But these days, when I see text on a Windows screen looking so... well you know what they look like, I wonder how people put up with it.
I suspect Safari is anti-aliasing as it does on OS X but something is either not working "right" or what you see, as Dinoboff suggests, is "different" and you need to get used to it.
All I can say is that type looks great from where I'm sitting. I wouldn't have it any other way.
Yes, Safari is a bit too soft, but what you're used to is way to jittery and jagged (it's bad typography no matter how much you're used to it). Personally, I think somewhere in between is perfect — I think that's what they're probably aiming for.
As a side note, I hate the way IE7's anti aliasing makes black text look purplish-blue.
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2007/06/12.html Summary: Windows tries to cram the font font into the screen pixels, Safari tries to cram the screen pixels into the font.
OK I have been using Safari 3 Beta on XP with a BeNQ flat screen for 2 weeks now.
The "blurry" text some guys complain about is the anti-aliasing, you can adjust it in the Font-Smoothing preferences. I personally like the smoothing, Exploder looks way too stark and primitive (reminds me of my first CRT about 17 years ago) but then "some" people like that. :-|
Everything else works pretty much like the Mac version I know and love and anyone preferring Exploder over Safari needs to take a long hard look at themselves (only kidding, keep your pants on).
My Exploder-using-colleagues are impressed too, I know they have secretly downloaded it and use it when I am not looking!
Comments
Posted: Thursday, 14 June 2007 at 8:04AM
If you close the tab, your changes will be lost. Do you want to close the tab anyway?
Wow, now that's a new one in my book!
Posted: Thursday, 14 June 2007 at 10:53AM
Or, I could just blame Safari instead, because that's where the problem is. Note that's it's the Windows version of Safari I'm blaming, not Safari in general.
Posted: Thursday, 14 June 2007 at 7:36PM
I suspect Safari is anti-aliasing as it does on OS X but something is either not working "right" or what you see, as Dinoboff suggests, is "different" and you need to get used to it.
All I can say is that type looks great from where I'm sitting. I wouldn't have it any other way.
Posted: Thursday, 14 June 2007 at 8:30PM
what I'm used to
what Safari does (especially note the upper case Ts)
ctrl+enter = www..com
shift+enter = www..net
ctrl+shift+enter = www..org
The "blurry" text some guys complain about is the anti-aliasing, you can adjust it in the Font-Smoothing preferences. I personally like the smoothing, Exploder looks way too stark and primitive (reminds me of my first CRT about 17 years ago) but then "some" people like that. :-|
Everything else works pretty much like the Mac version I know and love and anyone preferring Exploder over Safari needs to take a long hard look at themselves (only kidding, keep your pants on).
My Exploder-using-colleagues are impressed too, I know they have secretly downloaded it and use it when I am not looking!