Font Rendering Differences Between Apple And Microsoft

DateJune 12th, 2007    CommentsNo Comments

With the launch of Apple’s Safari browser for Windows (in Beta) yesterday, besides all the bug issues, Jeff Atwood at Coding Horror (a blog that I read often via RSS) has pointed out some issues with how Microsoft and Apple render fonts differently.  Microsoft (via ClearType) renders fonts smooth but crisp.  Apple renders fonts smooth but not so crisp.  Some say it’s blurry, but within OSX, it seems to fit well.

Anyway, the reason why these two render the fonts the way they do has already been discussed to death so I won’t go into that.  Ultimately though, it helped me to understand something about myself when it comes to Web Design that I always thought was kind of odd…

For some reason, I’ve always had an easier time doing graphic design on my Mac but writing code has always been easier on a PC.  Even though Photoshop is almost exactly the same on Microsoft’s Windows and Apple’s OSX operating systems, I’m more inspired and can knock out graphics quicker on the Mac.  Even though Dreamweaver is pretty much the same on both, I can knock out code quicker on the PC.  I’ve always suspected it was the way the fonts displayed on the different operating systems, but after reading up on why they two render fonts the way they do, now I’m certain that is definitely the reason.

Now that Macs can run Windows as well as OSX, I’m planning to go back to just using Macs, although my G4 won’t do it since it has to be an Intel-based Mac so I have to buy a new one.  This is mostly because I’m just tired of having to reinstall Windows on my computers every couple of years and all the other problems I’ve had with Windows and PC hardware.  I’ve never felt like I needed to reinstall OSX on my Macs ever and I’ve hardly had any hardware issues.

Anyway, does anyone know if Boot Camp or Parallels render screen fonts the Mac way when you’re running Windows or does it keep it the Windows way?  I’m going to have to find that out before I go back to the Macs.  I use Visual Studio 2005 these days but I guess if Boot Camp or Parallels render the fonts in Windows apps the Apple way, then I may have to rethink that plan.


Windows Is At It Again

DateMay 9th, 2007    CommentsNo Comments

I’m having a random network problem with my laptop that is driving me crazy.  The driver for the wireless network card is somehow becoming corrupted and keeps my laptop from going to sleep when I close the lid or when I just put it to sleep manually.

It took me a while just to narrow down what exactly was causing the problem and once I figured it out, it still took a while to find a fix for it.  We had to disable the wireless connection before putting it to sleep and then enabling it when we wanted to use it again for quite a while.  I finally found the answer on a forum where someone suggested uninstalling the driver and then reinstalling the driver.  Unfortunately, this hasn’t stopped the driver from becoming corrupted, if that’s even what’s really happening to it.  It seems to be getting worse by the day.

So what exactly does this have to do with Windows besides it being a Windows driver?  Well, from my experience, when these random errors begin happening and won’t stop, it usually means it is time to wipe the hard-drive clean and reinstall Windows.  This does not make me happy.

Anyway, I guess that’s one more reason why I’m going back to Macs exclusively. I know that running Windows on a Mac is bound to have the same problems eventually, but I won’t be as tied to the OS as I am now.  Reinstalling Windows won’t be as big of a deal as it is right now.

I cannot wait to get a new Mac!  I’m still holding out until Apple updates the Mac Mini with a faster processor and the 802.11n wireless card.  It’s due for an update any day now.