🚀 go-pugleaf

Hi all,

There's something that's been irritating me for quite a long time, and
I'm a bit surprised that I can't seem to find a single mention of it
on the web.

The bug is this: under Windows XP, most cases where Type-1 fonts
(either as Type-1 files or in OpenType format) are rendered (using the
default antialiasing), they are "twice-printed" -- that is, the black
stays the normal black, but all the gray edge pixels are twice as dark
as they should be.

This does not happen with regular TrueType fonts, or with OpenType
fonts that are TrueType internally -- it only happens with Type 1
fonts, and OpenType fonts that are Type 1 internally.

If you want to test the difference for yourself, try the following:
open up Windows Paintbrush, and then use the text tool to type any
phrase using a Type 1 font. As you type it, you will see that the
edges are "too dark".

However, when you click somewhere to actually render the text to the
document, it is rendered correctly, without being too dark. You can
verify this by typing the same text next to it, and you can compare
the two directly: the text you are typing is darker around the edges.

TrueType fonts do not do this, they are always consistent (and
correctly anti-aliased, to my eyes).

Typing a document in Wordpad results in text that is *always* too
dark, using Type 1 fonts.

Microsoft Word is a bit strange--the line you are typing on (and
sometimes the whole paragraph) is rendered correctly, but all other
paragraphs are too dark.

To make comparison easy, try hitting "Print Screen" and examining the
fonts close-up, and the difference will be very clear.

I was wondering now, has anybody else ever noticed this? And are there
any bug patches for it? It's always irritated me as I type in
Microsoft Word, using Type 1 fonts, that different paragraphs in the
same font render at different weights, because some of them are
"overtyped".

And while most people probably don't ever notice, it really bugs my
graphic designer's pixel-sensitive eye...

And I use XP SP2 with all updates downloaded...

Comments?

Michael