TR Forums

I've been using Standard almost forever with LCD panels, but lately I've been playing with ClearType as a less fatiguing alternative. After a week of having ClearType on, I went back to Standard smoothing of screen fonts. I feel like my eyes just can't focus with ClearType, so my eyes feel even more tired. What's everybody else using?

Standard here, but I'm using a CRT.

Have you played with the ClearType tuner?

I use standard because I mostly still use a (large and ancient) CRT.

Standard on my home CRT, the Mac equivalent of CT at work.

On my CRT at home, there's no point in either as text isn't very sharp anyway (drawback to CRT tech) and at work on my lousy Dell 15" LCD, I use Standard.

I turned ClearType on when I got my first LCD monitor (my laptop back in 2003) and haven't looked back.

Been using Clear Type for as long as I've been using XP (since 2001). It's one of my favorite XP features. If Vista doesn't have it (or at least something similar), then I'm definitely in no hurry to switch.

I switched to XP expressly for cleartype.

Vista has Cleartype. It is under Appearances settings in Effects tab.

I use it and love it.

I've tried using Cleartype before and it just makes text slightly blurry or smudged. This gives me a headache so nuts to Cleartype.

UberGerbil wrote:

Have you played with the ClearType tuner?

I use standard because I mostly still use a (large and ancient) CRT.

So many CRT users out there, still? I should update the poll

Cleartype Tuner Activate! It's better! I'll live with this for a while.

Edit: Bah. Back to Standard.

drsauced wrote:

So many CRT users out there, still? I should update the poll

I'm cheap.

Cleartype Tuner Activate! It's better! I'll live with this for a while.

Edit: Bah. Back to Standard.

Huh? What made you change your mind?

I also turn off cleartype. It gives me eyestrain because the illusion of blurriness makes my eyes try to focus unconsciously. Tuning doesn't seem to help much.

I like my pixels the way they are. So cleartype is off. Never found the antialised look good for text. I rather have really sharp jaggies on a screen and get a high-res screen instead.

Yeah, I have to say I'm not a huge fan of the blurry effect either. I leave it off.

bthylafh wrote:

Huh? What made you change your mind?

Even with the tuning, which was remarkably better, it still caused eyestrain trying to focus on the blurrrrr. Buh-bye.

I dont even know where to turn it off or on

tsoulier wrote:

I dont even know where to turn it off or on

Display Properties -> Appearance -> Effects

just brew it! wrote:

tsoulier wrote:

I dont even know where to turn it off or on

Display Properties -> Appearance -> Effects

Standard it is ....
thanks JBI

Once ClearType, Always ClearType.
I've used ClearType since CRT era.

on my old CRT i didn't use it (i think)

since i got my first laptop and LCD i've used cleartype, no preference...just happen to use it is all...don't mind either one

Could hardly read the text on my Samsung 940B without Cleartype on, and the same with the 226BW I'm using now.

I think it says a lot for how different people's eyes work. I had a thread in the Graphics forum complaining about how I missed Quincunx in Nvidia's drivers, because the blurriness actually helped by being easier on my eyes. For others, it caused them eyestrain instead of relief. Seems to be the same with CT. I think it's good to have options like this, because not everyone has the same type or depth of sensitivity in their vision. Curse you, Nvidia, gimme back my 2xQ!!!

ClearType here, with the requisite tuner. I'll add that I don't think it's suited to low PPI displays.

kvndoom wrote:

I think it says a lot for how different people's eyes work. I had a thread in the Graphics forum complaining about how I missed Quincunx in Nvidia's drivers, because the blurriness actually helped by being easier on my eyes. For others, it caused them eyestrain instead of relief. Seems to be the same with CT. I think it's good to have options like this, because not everyone has the same type or depth of sensitivity in their vision. Curse you, Nvidia, gimme back my 2xQ!!!

Some of that is just perception. People are quite susceptible to suggestion.

regular for me, tried it when i installed ie 7 i acidentally checked it, and went crazy on how to remove it, finally did it 10 min later, worst 10 minutes of vewing, this is on a lcd too

Cleartype is off here...

I can't figure out how to find anything in vista, so I'm on defualt (which I think is on)

I just switched ClearType back on. I switched LCDs just over a year ago and I was surprised that it was on Standard for over 14 months. I am so glad I went back to ClearType.

2_tyma wrote:

regular for me, tried it when i installed ie 7 i acidentally checked it, and went crazy on how to remove it, finally did it 10 min later, worst 10 minutes of vewing, this is on a lcd too

You probably needed to run the tuner because you had a panel with a different subpixel ordering or that was otherwise at odds with the default ClearType settings. You still might not have liked the results, but it wouldn't have been as bad as that.

It would be interesting to see a study done with a set of subjects using the same panels and fonts, and controlling for eyesight as well. It could be there's a subjective component as well as a biological one (perhaps some people need more help with edge recognition). But when we have a huge set of people all using different panels and different fonts, and some probably using analog connections instead of DVI as well, it's impossible to tease out any conclusions.