New Chrome Beta Sharpens Text on Windows

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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Chrome 37 Beta was announced on Thursday, bringing with it support for DirectWrite, a long sought after improvement that makes Chrome text crisper and sharper. Several other improvements are incorporated in 37 Beta, which will work its way through the Stable Channel in about six weeks.

It's taken four and a half years but the engineering gurus toiling away on Google Chrome have finally improved how the browser renders text on Windows.
Click to expand...
 
Took long enough. That was the only thing keeping from making the full switch to Chrome, the shitty text output. Looking forward to seeing how it looks.
 
Grimham said:
Took long enough. That was the only thing keeping from making the full switch to Chrome, the shitty text output. Looking forward to seeing how it looks.
Click to expand...

Very much. I don't see how they overlooked this for so long. Any bug that causes a negative effect on the main purpose of a browser (displaying webpages) should be priority over additional features and fluff.
 
I just installed it, it does make a visual difference. I have three 40" monitors, but it does really make the text a lot crisper.
 
3ahb8.jpg


Top is without DirectWrite, bottom is with DirectWrite.

Looks bolder and blurrier (even when not zoomed). Perhaps good for huge screens but definitely not good as a default setting for me.
 
melteye said:
3ahb8.jpg


Top is without DirectWrite, bottom is with DirectWrite.

Looks bolder and blurrier (even when not zoomed). Perhaps good for huge screens but definitely not good as a default setting for me.
Click to expand...

Thanks for showing. Well they tried :eek: & failed
 
DirectWrite always looked better for me, without it text is more obviously uneven in it's emphasis of outlines and brightness of the letters and it's distracting.

Like in the posted example in the thread for the word sites the it part of sites is stronger emphasis than the rest of the word it pops out and gives an uneven visual feeling.

Personally it's a huge plus for me one of the reasons i found IE text so appealing.
 
Semantics said:
DirectWrite always looked better for me, without it text is more obviously uneven in it's emphasis of outlines and brightness of the letters and it's distracting.

Like in the posted example in the thread for the word sites the it part of sites is stronger emphasis than the rest of the word it pops out and gives an uneven visual feeling.

Personally it's a huge plus for me one of the reasons i found IE text so appealing.
Click to expand...

Their implementation looks nothing whatsoever like the example they give. I'm all for having text appear even, but not at the expense of sharpness (which is what they are claiming is increased). When I enable DirectWrite is looks like the example they gave for "Without DirectWrite".

Also, you're talking about DirectWrite in Internet Explorer... which has better font display in general so your comparison isn't exactly accurate. I've added a third line for IE... looks much better:

alrva8.jpg
 
melteye said:
Also, you're talking about DirectWrite in Internet Explorer... which has better font display in general so your comparison isn't exactly accurate. I've added a third line for IE... looks much better:
Click to expand...

Although for small fonts (or viewing at 90% as I usually do) Chrome without DirectWrite is easier to read. For large fonts IE looks better.
 
While I'm at it:

2n7meky.jpg


Alright, now I'll stop spamming this thread. My conclusion is to try for yourself, as I'm just stating my own opinion.
 
melteye said:
3ahb8.jpg


Top is without DirectWrite, bottom is with DirectWrite.

Looks bolder and blurrier (even when not zoomed). Perhaps good for huge screens but definitely not good as a default setting for me.
Click to expand...

Took me a while to see the difference (at first glance, they look identical), but even then I wouldn't really say this is an improvement. :eek:

The real question is why the fuck wasn't this fixed/added from day 1?
 
Um, why don't they just follow IE's rendering? What is this chromatic aberration shit?
 
Megalith said:
Um, why don't they just follow IE's rendering? What is this chromatic aberration shit?
Click to expand...
lol

The grayscale font doesn't seem to use sub-pixel rendering other than varying the darkness around edges. It's kind of ugly in practice, as in generally considered blurry on screen-sized fonts.

The colors in the other pictures are artifacts of RGB sub-pixel rendering and are noticeable when blown up, but not when viewed at actual size. The way it works on many screens is (for example a white dot):

Code: 
P1 P2 P3
RGBRGBRGB

RGB <- white pixel
 GBR <- white pixel
  BRG <- white pixel

This method allows sub-pixel accuracy when rendering text, making it appear smoother. At 100%, the subpixel to the left or right of a white pixel appears to be the same color. When zoomed in it no longer has that property since the subpixel is copied several times and it loses the quality that makes it work for sub-pixel rendering.

Of course there are also preferences, but I happen to like the Windows 7-style rendering Chrome uses.
 
Am I the only person who hates sub-pixel rendering? First thing I do after installing windows is smite Cleartype - it just looks awful.

Nate
 
sub-pixel rendering doesn't work for everything

small font sizes will end up more difficult to read

it looks great for larger font sizes though (or screens with higher PPI)

standard rendering will always be the sharpest due to its inherent nature
 
Remember everyone, go to "chrome://flags/" in chrome and turn on DirectWrite. It wasn't on for me after installing the beta.

But, the fonts are a tad bit bolder in comparison with Firefox.. FF looks very crisp.
 
With browsers at defaults and at 100% zoom. I'm having a hard time making my choice of what's better...

FF.chrome.font.cxomparison.PNG
 
Warrior said:
I actually have a spectrophotometer calibrated monitor at work with custom color profiles, so these screens should be pretty accurate.
Click to expand...

Your screenshot isn't going to be effected by an ICC profile unless you used a camera to take it. But yes, the Chrome image looks far too bold and blurry.
 
ru!ner said:
Your screenshot isn't going to be effected by an ICC profile unless you used a camera to take it. But yes, the Chrome image looks far too bold and blurry.
Click to expand...

Well, your right. Because your own ICC profile will change the colors... lol It was LeninGHOLA's post that made me mention it.

So, let me rephrase:

These colors should look pretty accurate on MY monitor, :p

But, either way, the difference is clear... I'll post a version difference later.
 
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