Mac os fonts are not easly readable

[UKBeast]

I migrated to mac os a few weeks ago, and I realised that it is difficult to read fonts in Mac Os, in windows fonts are sharper and more readable. In os x my eyes are getting tired easily. Sometimes it is difficult to see the difference between letters and I have to zoom in and out all the time.

Menu bars and written texts generally to small to read. Espcially in pages, aperture some kinds of applications, right clik bars, info bars are really small. Generally they are grayish and contrast is not high at all.

Now i start to think i made a mistake with buying 13inch model, i should have bought 17inch. The odd thing is, even in 9inch netbook, which has 1024 x 600 resolution, I can read many thing without zooming in quite easly.

Am i being blind or is there something wrong with mac os ?

 

[spinnerlys]

For me it's the other way around.

Btw, the 13" has 1280 x 900 pixel, the 17" has 1920 x 1200 pixel, which means, the 17" has more Pixel Per Inch (PPI), thus everything is smaller.

 

[sammich]

For me it's the other way around.

Btw, the 13" has 1280 x 900 (120ppi) panel, the 17" has 1920 x 1200 (132 ppi) panel, which means, the 17" has smaller pixels, thus everything is smaller.

A couple of fixes.

You can try to change the value in: System Preferences -> Appearance. Go to the bottom and change the font smoothing setting.

You could read these pages:
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2007/06/whats-wrong-with-apples-font-rendering.html
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2007/06/font-rendering-respecting-the-pixel-grid.html

 

[Consultant]

Think about it. WHY would high end pc gamers get $500 video cards to enable multiple pass ANTI-ALIAS at high resolution?

None-anti-alias font is a relic of low quality computing.

Anti-alias is the way to go.

 

[Compile 'em all]

I migrated to mac os a few weeks ago, and I realised that it is difficult to read fonts in Mac Os, in windows fonts are sharper and more readable. In os x my eyes are getting tired easily. Sometimes it is difficult to see the difference between letters and I have to zoom in and out all the time.

Menu bars and written texts generally to small to read. Espcially in pages, aperture some kinds of applications, right clik bars, info bars are really small. Generally they are grayish and contrast is not high at all.

Now i start to think i made a mistake with buying 13inch model, i should have bought 17inch. The odd thing is, even in 9inch netbook, which has 1024 x 600 resolution, I can read many thing without zooming in quite easly.

Am i being blind or is there something wrong with mac os ?

You are blind.

Fonts and no aliasing on Windows is nothing short of gross.

 

[UKBeast]

A couple of fixes.

You can try to change the value in: System Preferences -> Appearance. Go to the bottom and change the font smoothing setting.

You could read these pages:
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2007/06/whats-wrong-with-apples-font-rendering.html
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2007/06/font-rendering-respecting-the-pixel-grid.html

For gods sake !

I should have known this before, now I understand why i cannot read long minutes in mac os!

It must have been optional for people who does not want quartz. It is looking very sytlish and artictic in mac os but not readable in the long run. After 10 minutes of reading, I am loosing my concentration in mac os..

Anyway, is there way to completely customize font sizes ? menu bars fonts etc. ?

I have to use office software but everything is very small. Icons, menus, fonts..

 

[sammich]

I should have known this before, now I understand why i cannot read long minutes in mac os!

It must have been optional for people who does not want quartz. It is looking very stylish and artistic in mac os but not readable in the long run. After 10 minutes of reading, I am loosing my concentration in mac os..

I think something you will have to grow accustomed to. Reading in OS X is actually easier/nicer for me.

Anyway, is there way to completely customize font sizes ? menu bars fonts etc. ?

I have to use office software but everything is very small. Icons, menus, fonts..

Those are the standard sizes, and one feature called 'Resolution Independence' has been a long time planned but never realised. What is the OS on your 9" netbook? Do you have the DPI scaling on in W7?

 

[MisterMe]

I migrated to mac os a few weeks ago, and I realised that it is difficult to read fonts in Mac Os, in windows fonts are sharper and more readable. ...

You are not the first Windows user who had difficulty reading the Mac display. You may rest assured that you will not be the last.

Windows users find Mac font displays to be blurry. Mac users find Windows fonts to be horrid. I am solidly in the Mac users camp. Rest assured that this Mac user of 21 years has not been driven blind by computers' displays.

You have choices:

• Learn to appreciate the realistic rendering of fonts on the Mac.
• Go back to Windows.
• Continue to complain.
• Grin and bear it.

 

[Let's Sekuhara!]

MisterMe, I couldn't have put it better myself.

Although I will add one more option to your list:

• Learn to appreciate the realistic rendering of fonts on the Mac.
• Go back to Windows.
• Continue to complain.
• Grin and bear it.
• Use TinkerTool to disable font smoothing in OS X. Makes your fonts ugly like on Windows - but if you're into that sort of thing, knock yourself out. (After disabling you'll need to relaunch Finder for it to take effect)

 

[UKBeast]

I think something you will have to grow accustomed to. Reading in OS X is actually easier/nicer for me.



Those are the standard sizes, and one feature called 'Resolution Independence' has been a long time planned but never realised. What is the OS on your 9" netbook? Do you have the DPI scaling on in W7?

I am using Windows xp on my netbook, just using as it came to me. W7 is on my HP a 1280 x 800 15inch screen. Fonts and menus are really big and easily readable on windows side.

Yes, fonts in mac OS are smooth and looking nice to your eyes but when it comes to reading and usability it is just making my eyes tired after 10 minutes of consistent reading. I need fonts to read articles, magazines, newspaper not for artwork stuff.