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Joel on Font Smoothing

Stefan Tilkov,

Joel writes:

Apple and Microsoft have always disagreed in how to display fonts on computer displays […] Apple users liked Apple’s system, while Windows users liked Microsoft’s system. This is not just standard fanboyism; it reflects the fact that when you ask people to choose a style or design that they prefer, unless they are trained, they will generally choose the one that looks most familiar. In most matters of taste, when you do preference surveys, you’ll find that most people don’t really know what to choose, and will opt for the one that seems most familiar.

I remember having a discussion with Hartmut, one of innoQ’s Windows fanboys on this and can only assert it’s really a matter of taste. Except he’s wrong, of course ;-)