Tip Of The Day: Have You Enabled ClearType?

Way back in 1998 Microsoft unveiled an interesting technology it called ClearType. It still ships today free with Windows and makes your screen fonts sharp and easier to read. For some reason that I no longer remember, Microsoft was not allowed to ship Windows with ClearType enabled, so most people live their lives with grainy fonts and a free solution just waiting there under the hood.

If that's you (and we won't tell!) take a second to enable ClearType. For a small percentage of people who are more color sensitive, you can also fine tune it with this utility (requires IE and won't work on Mozilla/Firefox, surprise surprise)or simply turn it off. For the bulk of us, the impact is pretty striking.

HOW TO ENABLE CLEARTYPE:
--Right-click on a blank part of your desktop and choose "Properties" from the menu.
--Click on the "Appearance" tab
--Click the "Effects..." button
--Check the box that says "Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts."
--Select ClearType from the drop down menu
--Press OK

And that's all there is to it. For a look at the technology, click here.
For an interview with ClearType co-founder Bill Hill (no relation) click here.

# Permalink   Posted at 2:23 PM        3 comments       Email this Link