Poor font rendering in Windows 8 (blurry text)

Anonymous
2013-02-24T00:17:00+00:00

Apparently there is a huge problem with **** font rendering in Windows 8. Text appears very blurry. Programs affected by the new rendering are: Internet Explorer 10, the modern interface (start screen), Office 2013 and other 3rd party applications that rely on this rendering technology. There is no way to fix this problem, unless Microsoft recognizes it.

I 've gathered links bellow that refer to the same problem to highlight its importance and display the number of users that are affected:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-performance/windows-8-blurryfuzzy-text-and-icons-on-menu-not/ef8945ff-9920-47b2-b4ec-db1c5fbab7de

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/ie/forum/ie10-windows_8/windows-8-fonts-in-metro-ui-and-ie-10-blurry/3c29c415-54fd-44c8-b290-1c01dd05beaf

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/ie/forum/ie10-windows_8/font-are-blurry-in-internet-explorer-10-windows-8/95fba606-5f45-43fa-bd96-413f6d9d9ad6

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/ie/forum/ie10-windows_8/after-upgrading-to-windows-8-pro-my-fonts-in/210e46c9-4d16-4de7-8b59-2a1b0a7c738a

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/ie/forum/ie10-windows_8/internet-explorer-10-windows-8-font-rendering-blur/f3b33400-bb95-450c-9587-68adbf298a2f

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_cp-winapps/blurry-text-windows-8/576183c0-e5e2-4916-8283-0a193d633018

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-hardware/blurry-text-problem/d07ac513-de07-49d9-8718-7fbb6d07b634

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/ie/forum/ie10-windows_8/windows-8-browsers-font-rendering-issue-blocky/86139808-9c3f-48d9-bfa8-61afebd5761c

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/ie/forum/ie10_cp-windows_cp/windows-8-preview-release-blurry-font-rendering/668f454e-012f-498f-a086-b550a96d47e1

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-performance/horrible-windows-8-font-rendering/cc263629-f4c8-4653-af36-435f4e6b7d38

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_other-desktop/will-windows-8-have-better-fonts-or-at-least/ad35ce7b-45a9-44b4-83d9-aae34df8dd97

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-performance/fonts-are-suddenly-ugly-why/ba024dcc-c143-4ede-8f04-27930527c5be

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/ie/forum/ie10_cp-windows_cp/installation-of-windows-8-cp-causes-blurred-fonts/75352b20-cb08-4312-b7f3-6c38bb5f5f0a

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-desktop/monitor-fonts-windows-8-fuzzy-and-no-longer-crisp/052e7a57-79a7-49c5-93dc-bffb01969cbd

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/ie/forum/ie9-windows_vista/some-fonts-are-fuzzy-and-thicker-in-ie9-in/47f1846f-7817-464b-8121-d1ca02dbb71d

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-performance/blurry-text-in-windows-8/ed053d17-b525-4e09-bdbc-de91114d975c

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-performance/windows-8-has-made-my-text-blurry/7e9977e0-335f-4e8b-b321-eb2d156f36c1

Microsoft MSDN/TECHNET

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winappsuidesign/thread/4ddc57e1-de74-4044-940e-76e35a3e76b9

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-ZA/w8itprogeneral/thread/034ef255-40d5-41d5-9c58-841868326832

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/br/w8itprogeneral/thread/831ee84b-95a1-437a-b051-b7d51e13ba0f

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w8itprogeneral/thread/d9c1ce96-58aa-401f-a5f4-1c62660077ca

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/W8ITProPreRel/thread/409d4e85-1124-4e1c-9cc0-3b2acfd519dd

External forums:

http://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1120890-internet-explorer-10-fonts-fuzzy-in-windows-8/

http://www.eightforums.com/browsers-mail/5432-blurry-text-ie10-desktop.html

http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f56/blurry-website-fonts-in-ie10-675564.html

http://www.techplex.net/postst78315_Text-in-Internet-Explorer-10-and-Metro-UI-is-blurry.aspx

http://superuser.com/questions/506192/disable-cleartype-blurry-fonts-in-internet-explorer-10-on-windows-7

http://bugsort.com/computer-users/computer-unclear-type-in-internet-explorer-on-windows-8/?PHPSESSID=10368ff87086c902a678043f63e39762

and there are lots of more...

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Performance and system failures

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-12-30T17:13:06+00:00

    Well, pictures posted in this forum are resized when they are too wide so unless you got the size right before posting them, people won't be able to see what you mean (max width is around 450 px if I remember right).

    But, no, cleartype has never been enabled by default on Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 and 8.1 on my laptops.

    Cleartype has always made my fonts look fuzzy without any doubt, not the other way around, and I have always had an usual laptop screen with a pixel density of around 100 PPI.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-12-30T17:09:56+00:00

    fyi.  ClearType setting was never a default (never enabled) in Windows XP.    Only from Windows 7

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-12-30T17:01:32+00:00

    egman,

    I'm really surprised, you say this:

    "I never knew a single person who actually preferred Cleartype"

    I cannot look at any windows screen, without this "ClearType" set.    Whenever, I visit any of my collegues' desks, I can instantaneously recognize, if they don't set "clearType".    Being application support person, first thing, I do is to set the ClearType.  Some people immediately say, it's better and sharp and some others would say, don't see any difference.   May be my eyes are different and I simply cannot live without ClearType.   I can can clearly see the breaks in the letters (digital dots spread apart) unless clearType is set.

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-12-30T16:58:03+00:00

    I started getting confused here.

    Isn't ClearType enabled by default in all versions of Windows? At least since XP and newer versions?

    When searching for Cleartype in the Control Panel of every version of Windows, I remember the ClearType wizard launching with ClearType already enabled. When unclicking the default enabled option, fonts on the desktop become fuzzy instantly.

    I bet 90% of Windows users have never heard of the term "Cleartype", which as I remember was default until Windows 8. So how can they hate it? Where was the option for gray-scale (or actually single-color) rendering in Windows XP, Vista, 7? Just by disabling Cleartype?

    Also, Cleartype is used everywhere on Windows 8 desktop, except IE webpages! Everything else is Cleartype, even IE menus.

    Look at the picture bellow. It is Windows 8.1 with and without Cleartype enabled. Download it and view it at 100% zoom (actual size). Do you really prefer the image where ClearType is disabled? Can you see colored pixels around fonts when Cleartype is enabled, unless you zoom 200-300%?

    Even if single-color antialiasing is better for some reasons, it's not done the proper way in Windows 8.

    If you're complaining about seeing colored pixels around words, most users are complaining here about seeing double width gray letters. For example, as I'm typing, the letter "I" is viewed as two gray vertical lines instead of one solid black one.

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  5. Anonymous
    2013-12-30T16:17:58+00:00

    Okay. I'm not trying to pick a fight. Just seemed pretty incredible, rather sweeping statement. If it's limited just to people with whom you are familiar, that's narrows it down a bit. Still rather a broad statement but to each her own clarion -- or his own.

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