Poor quality font rendering

[Felipe Heidrich]

Hi John,

> 1. Sub-pixel positioning ( https://javafx-jira.kenai.com/browse/RT-14187 )

Yes, if all goes well RT-14187 will get fixed for FX8.

Notes:
-On Mac we already have sub-pixel positioned glyphs.
-LCD text we also have sub-pixel positioned glyphs.
-The main one that I feel we are missing is grayscale text for Windows.
-It is very unlikely we will have time to do anything for Linux this time around.


2. Kerning ( https://javafx-jira.kenai.com/browse/RT-7472 )

Not target for 8.

3. Is it just my imagination.

Webview node and text node both use the very same drawing code in Prism.
I would not expect to see any difference...

I hope this helps,
Felipe


On Aug 27, 2013, at 3:42 AM, John C. Turnbull wrote:

> I am still hoping someone can answer my questions on this topic (included
> here for convenience):
> 
>> 1. When will both (1) and (2) make it into a JDK8 development build?
>> 2. Are there any other plans/techniques to improve font rendering on the
> horizon for JFX8 or later?
> 
> But I noticed something further which I think is a little curious...
> 
> It may just be an optical illusion but it definitely appears to me that font
> rendering within WebView is of a considerably better quality than that in
> other controls (such as Label, Text) in the sense that it appears crisper
> and much closer to the native font rendering of the Windows OS.
> 
> So I would like to add another question:
> 
> 3. Is this just my imagination?
> 
> I realise that it's WebKit that contains the rendering code but I would have
> thought that the exact same Prism calls would be made from within this
> renderer as would be used by other controls so I don't see why there would
> be any difference.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> -jct
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: openjfx-dev-bounces at openjdk.java.net
> [mailto:openjfx-dev-bounces at openjdk.java.net] On Behalf Of John C. Turnbull
> Sent: Friday, 23 August 2013 17:23
> To: 'Phil Race'; 'John Hendrikx'; 'Felipe Heidrich'
> Cc: openjfx-dev at openjdk.java.net
> Subject: RE: Poor quality font rendering
> 
> OK, thanks to everyone who has contributed input to this thread - it's been
> most enlightening.
> 
> So, in summary, it seems that the dark art of font rendering is complex and
> made more so by having to support numerous different operating systems, font
> engines, GPUs and monitors etc.
> 
> I am sure JavaFX does a pretty good job already under most circumstances but
> I (personally) hope things improve further in the future and that the gap
> between JavaFX font rendering quality and that of native font rendering is
> narrowed.
> 
> To this end, there seem to be two main improvements already under
> development namely:
> 
> 1. Sub-pixel positioning ( https://javafx-jira.kenai.com/browse/RT-14187 )
> 2. Kerning ( https://javafx-jira.kenai.com/browse/RT-7472 )
> 
> To assist me in my decision making and planning, would it be possible for
> someone to answer:
> 
> 1. When will both (1) and (2) make it into a JDK8 development build?
> 2. Are there any other plans/techniques to improve font rendering on the
> horizon for JFX8 or later?
> 
> As I said, my focus is Windows 7 and Windows 8 at the moment so even if you
> can only answer within these contexts it would be much appreciated!
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> -jct
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: openjfx-dev-bounces at openjdk.java.net
> [mailto:openjfx-dev-bounces at openjdk.java.net] On Behalf Of Phil Race
> Sent: Friday, 23 August 2013 06:57
> To: John Hendrikx
> Cc: openjfx-dev at openjdk.java.net
> Subject: Re: Poor quality font rendering
> 
> On 8/22/2013 1:23 PM, John Hendrikx wrote:
>> Oh.. I forgot to say this, but...
>> 
>> Screenshots taken with LCD smoothing on are always gonna end up 
>> looking different on different monitors... if for example your monitor 
>> has slightly different spacing or a different order of the subpixels 
>> (or you rotated it), then the screenshot will look wierd.  I prefer to 
>> keep LCD smoothing off as I make screenshots / videos regularly and I 
>> donot know on what system they'll be viewed on.  So if one of shots 
>> has particularly bad colored fringes, it is likely you have a monitor 
>> that has a different configuration than mine.
> 
> Yes. I have a BGR monitor here :-)
> 
> 90 degrees rotation also invalidates the LCD but it doesn't look as bad as
> getting RGB<->BGR wrong
> 
> Devices like the i-whatsit and Android ones don't use LCD and I think that
> is one reason.
> OLED displays don't work well with it either.
> 
> Windows is deficient in that it doesn't provide anyway to set LCD on a
> per-screen basis and it should. But most about every desktop/laptop is
> normal rotation LCD in RGB format.
> 
> -phil.
> 
> 
>