Comments on: Better Postscript CFF font rendering with DirectWrite

By: travesti

travesti — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 01:26:59 +0000

he article mentions: “Small text drawn with Windows 7 GDI ClearType rendering:” Obviously that is not ClearType rendering, there are no subpixel colors, ClearType only works with TrueType fonts, it looks like the sample is drawn with the good old Adobe rasteriser. DirectWrite seems to apply ClearType like subpixel precision on CFF fonts, or is it finally a newer version of the Adobe rasteriser? I wonder if it would look even better if the PS font was properly hinted.tt

By: Thomas Phinney

Thomas Phinney — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 23:03:29 +0000

Lucas: Actually, under both WPF and DirectWrite, ClearType is enabled with OpenType CFF fonts, not just TrueType fonts. Adobe worked very closely with Microsoft to make that happen, and yes it’s a newer version of the Adobe rasterizer involved in that as well.

I would expect that the DirectWrite rasterizer would enable sub-pixel positioning for CFF outlines (that is, the initial position of each glyph can vary at a subpixel level), but I don’t think I know for certain that it does or can.

By: Browser Choice vs Font Rendering | Phinney on Fonts

Browser Choice vs Font Rendering | Phinney on Fonts — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 07:56:48 +0000

[...] and noting because it has already been announced that Internet Explorer 9 will use DirectWrite, and apparently FireFox is working on it as well. added to Font rendering, Making fonts work, Type Design, Web fonts by Thomas Phinney [ [...]

By: Firefox hopes to one-up IE with fast graphics « Interesting finds

Firefox hopes to one-up IE with fast graphics « Interesting finds — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:12:44 +0000

[...] on Windows. The DirectWrite technology helps that operating system catch up to its rivals, said Mozilla’s John Daggett in a blog post Sunday. “Platform APIs [application programming interfaces] on Mac OS X and Linux already do [...]

By: jdaggett

jdaggett — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:52:18 +0000

@Lucas @treckle Right, the rendering shows GDI rendering with ClearType enabled. As you both point out, it’s not actually using subpixel anti-aliasing when rendering the CFF fonts since ClearType only supports subpixel anti-aliasing of TrueType fonts. DWrite appears to do nicer job with both TrueType and CFF fonts.

By: treckle

treckle — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:13:59 +0000

Sorry to nitpick, but the zoomed in GDI text looks like grayscale, not ClearType. However, the point is well taken – DWrite looks much better. I just wanted to make sure the comparison is fair.

By: Luc(as)

Luc(as) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 11:18:20 +0000

The article mentions: “Small text drawn with Windows 7 GDI ClearType rendering:” Obviously that is not ClearType rendering, there are no subpixel colors, ClearType only works with TrueType fonts, it looks like the sample is drawn with the good old Adobe rasteriser. DirectWrite seems to apply ClearType like subpixel precision on CFF fonts, or is it finally a newer version of the Adobe rasteriser? I wonder if it would look even better if the PS font was properly hinted.

By: miha

miha — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:01:21 +0000

Yeeeeaaah!

Was waiting for this.

By: Sex, lies, & type | i love typography, the typography and fonts blog

Sex, lies, & type | i love typography, the typography and fonts blog — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:22:16 +0000

[...] support for WOFF. Boing Boing Redesign Uncovers Web Font IgnoranceWhere to get Web fontsBetter Postscript CFF font rendering with DirectWrite.Typotheque has now released its Web fonts. Comes with a 30-day free evaluation, so why not give it a [...]

By: Olly Hodgson

Olly Hodgson — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:05:06 +0000

@Alex – Even if this won’t help XP users, it’s good to know Vista and W7 users will finally get better typography

Any idea if this will make it into 3.6?