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0 pointsDinaCoder992y ago0 comments

Well whatever it does, I actually prefer it to hinting and always have. Whatever happens on linux makes the fonts look too thin for my personal taste.

Regardless, I hope everyone agrees that hi dpi + no hinting (or smearing) looks the best.

0 comments

zozbot2342y ago

If hinting makes the fonts "too thin", your display gamma is probably misconfigured. That kind of artifact is a common side-effect of graphical operations being performed in the wrong gamma space.

DinaCoder99OP2y ago

I don't see how that would affect a screenshot—the difference is clearly visible in screenshots. Furthermore the differences between Mac, Linux, and Window font rendering are widely discussed on the internet. I think I just prefer the way that Apple chose to render fonts.

This blog post seems to lay out the tradeoff between, at least, Windows and Mac font rendering: https://blog.typekit.com/2010/10/15/type-rendering-operating...

Sunspark2y ago

Yes, there is an issue with freetype where the gamma is different between otf and ttf fonts. otf will apply the gamma automatically, but for ttf you have to force stem darkening at the current time.

redeeman2y ago

i always disliked hinting aswell, but thankfully one can just disable hinting on linux, and then fonts actually look fairly similar to what osx did(~10-15 years ago)

Sunspark2y ago

Full hinting is a must-have if you turn AA off and use fonts that were designed to be hinted to a pixel grid.

Fonts have several distinct periods where they were designed expecting that renderers would function a certain way. File format notwithstanding, one size does not fit all. You really do need to match your font to your renderer's settings.

NoGravitas2y ago

You can also match your renderer's settings to your font, and have it different for different fonts, via fontconfig. But actually using that is pretty advanced.

redeeman2y ago

that may well be, but for me, I choose no hinting, with AA activated, and if a font does not look good, I simply do not use it.

IF i specifically REALLY wanted a font that required hinting to look good, I would make a special config for that particular font, but I would need some serious advantage to bother doing that

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zozbot2342y ago

If hinting makes the fonts "too thin", your display gamma is probably misconfigured. That kind of artifact is a common side-effect of graphical operations being performed in the wrong gamma space.

DinaCoder99OP2y ago

This blog post seems to lay out the tradeoff between, at least, Windows and Mac font rendering: https://blog.typekit.com/2010/10/15/type-rendering-operating...

Sunspark2y ago

Yes, there is an issue with freetype where the gamma is different between otf and ttf fonts. otf will apply the gamma automatically, but for ttf you have to force stem darkening at the current time.

redeeman2y ago

i always disliked hinting aswell, but thankfully one can just disable hinting on linux, and then fonts actually look fairly similar to what osx did(~10-15 years ago)

Sunspark2y ago

Full hinting is a must-have if you turn AA off and use fonts that were designed to be hinted to a pixel grid.

NoGravitas2y ago

You can also match your renderer's settings to your font, and have it different for different fonts, via fontconfig. But actually using that is pretty advanced.

redeeman2y ago

that may well be, but for me, I choose no hinting, with AA activated, and if a font does not look good, I simply do not use it.

IF i specifically REALLY wanted a font that required hinting to look good, I would make a special config for that particular font, but I would need some serious advantage to bother doing that

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse