All in the <head> – Ponderings and code by Drew McLellan –

ClearType anything but

I’m the kinda guy who really likes nicely anti-aliased text (if there is a kinda guy for that sort of thing). I love the nice smooth, crisp text that the Quartz system brings to Macs running OS X. I’m in awe of the new customizable anti-aliasing settings in Fireworks MX 2004 (you can set your own custom levels – very cool). I like to use fonts and text sizes that smooth nicely for headings on web pages, where the user’s system has options for that. I like it smooooth baby, yeah.

For these reasons, I’m keep trying very hard to love Microsoft’s ClearType. However, the fact remains that it makes my whole screen look slightly out of focus. And not it a good way. It makes the back of my eyes hurt. Actually hurt. I don’t know why this should be, why anti-aliasing technology from one capable manufacturer (Apple) be a joy to behold, and another similar technology from another capable manufacturer (Microsoft) make my eyes physically hurt. It’s not just on this one computer, either. Any yes, I’ve tried to get used to it, but it makes me feel ill.

What am I doing wrong? Help!