On 12/12/23 6:10 AM, Mark Raynsford wrote:
I've never been particularly satisfied with the font rendering in
JavaFX. In particular, on Linux, the text always appears very soft and
blurry compared to non-JavaFX applications on the same system.
Here's the best source I've found for the history of JavaFX text
rendering. It's a presentation by Felipe Heidrich who worked on the
implementation and now works at Google.
JavaFX Text Rendering
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCrCni6EVek
It's frustratingly short on details about the specific decision not to
use hinting on Linux, but you can hear his opinions on the matter. In
particular, see the following sections:
Text Rendering Options
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCrCni6EVek&t=911
Hinting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCrCni6EVek&t=1607
Linux
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCrCni6EVek&t=2716
In this part he says only, "Another thing you can do in Freetype, you
can tell it not to hint."
My main point in my previous message was that, in the unlikely event
that we were to apply hinting in JavaFX on Linux, I would hope that we
use the "slight" hinting that is recommended by Freetype. That snaps to
the pixel grid only vertically, preserving the inter-glyph spacing of
horizontal text.
Kevin and Phil, were you working with Felipe when these text rendering
decisions were made almost 10 years ago? Do you recall any background
information on the design choices?
Thanks,
John
