Latest version of Chrome changed font smoothing?

Nismo · 25 Sep 2012 at 21:28

Anyone else had this? I'm on version 22.0.1229.79 which apparently came out today, and the font smoothing looks really bad to me. It's especially noticeable on this forum, as though someone's messed up my cleartype settings in Windows :/

The release notes mention something about optimising it for retina display type screens, wonder if that's related?

Cromulent · 26 Sep 2012 at 00:19

I've just updated myself and it looks OK to me. I'm running Windows 7.

V F · 26 Sep 2012 at 00:59

It's a little thicker than Firefox but nearly matches Safari 6.

Nismo · 26 Sep 2012 at 06:08

Hmm, it's definitely changed and for the worse IMO, at least with my setup. Guess it's just something I'll get used to.

Here's a comparison, new Chrome on the left, IE9 on the right...

V F · 26 Sep 2012 at 17:13

You're just used to Windows horrid skinny cleartype. It looks jagged on the right.

T345 · 26 Sep 2012 at 17:18

No difference for me ?

The__Malteser · 26 Sep 2012 at 17:22

Yes. Looks bad.

How do I change it?

TheVoice · 26 Sep 2012 at 17:32

Does look thicker and less clear, reminds me of Safari on a Mac.

V F · 26 Sep 2012 at 17:46

Thin and jaggy is clear?

alex24 · 26 Sep 2012 at 17:51

Noticed this too, looks pants. It's harder to read.

Skillmister · 26 Sep 2012 at 18:43

Definitely changed, it all looks semi bold. My eyes feel like they are going mad

Nismo · 26 Sep 2012 at 19:20

V F said:
You're just used to Windows horrid skinny cleartype. It looks jagged on the right.

Certainly not jagged, and I've always found Windows clear type fine once tuned.

As has been said, on some pages like here the fonts look bolder, on others like some BBC sites they are horribly thin and spindly.

I posted this on the Chrome forums page but noones responded as yet.

weyland yutani · 26 Sep 2012 at 19:43

I updated Chrome after seeing this thread and immediately noticed a difference. Almost looks like I'm using comic sans lol

Raumarik · 26 Sep 2012 at 19:45

Just moved to Chrome from Firefox and got to say that I'm loving it. Blisteringly fast even with a couple of extensions (the same ones I used on Firefox mostly).

Fireshot is pretty nice too

Nismo out of those two screenies I'd say I prefer the one on the right, although it's a little clearer on mine that in the screenshot - that could just be quality lost when saving it as a jpeg to upload though.

weyland yutani · 26 Sep 2012 at 19:49

yeah Chrome is lightning quick, especially compared to firefox. Even on my mechanical drive it loads up instantly with a couple of extensions on :cool:

Nismo · 26 Sep 2012 at 20:06

Halfmad said:
Nismo out of those two screenies I'd say I prefer the one on the right, although it's a little clearer on mine that in the screenshot - that could just be quality lost when saving it as a jpeg to upload though.

Yep, right is IE9 which is pretty much what the "old" Chrome looked like, and is much nicer.

Having used it all day at work I'm a little more used to it now, but its still not nice.

Converge · 26 Sep 2012 at 23:33

I've the horrible font issue too, it's making my eyes go squiffy

Is there any known fix?

Nismo · 27 Sep 2012 at 06:45

Converge said:
Is there any known fix?

Only thing at the minute seems to be to install the previous build (21.0.1180.89) and disable Chrome from updating itself

I'm going to stick with it and see if it's something that gets fixed, as there are numerous people who are saying they don't like it either.

FoxEye · 27 Sep 2012 at 22:18

Ugh, it's horrible. No, it's worse than horrible, it's dreadful!

alex24 · 20 Oct 2012 at 21:55

Any more word on this? Still annoying me a lot!

Don't make me use IE9...