How? I am using it on Mac and Linux, and I have no other alternative that is even remotely better than it. Although I prefer a more trustworthy distributer of chromium and not get the compiled form from Google directly. Firefox is getting far behind. opera was never there for me. Safari is limited to Mac OS.
Both FireFox and IE have had DirectWrite font rendering for ages. And I don't know about IE, but Firefox has also had a password manager interface like the one above for as long as I can remember.
Then I'm sorry that your platform doesn't have a technology like DirectWrite to actually take advantage of, and thus can't be as good?
I'm not sure what you're looking for in an answer here. Windows is the vast majority of the PC browser marketshare, so when you compare the "quality" of browsers, most people don't care if Firefox sucks on Linux compared to Chrome on Windows, because that's not what the overwhelming majority of users use.
Well you know since the article was about the Windows version of Chrome, it seemed pretty apparent that the OP was commenting on the Windows version of Chrome.
I have found that it's not necessarily Chrome, but with enough tabs open, the dGPU kicks on instead. Apple claims it is because chrome tries to do more webgl than it should, but I'm not sure I buy it (yet). I don't seem to have that problem with safari or Firefox.
Chrome has always been behind in many areas. Part of the problem is because it still supports the ancient Win XP, so does not make use of newer features and API's in Win7/8.x.
IE11 actually gets many of the basic things right - great GPU acceleration, unrivalled smooth scrolling with touch, and good font rendering. But sadly it doesn't have enough user features or addon support for me to use it.
IE11 has poor font rendering. XP had good font rendering technology with Cleartype (subpixel antialiasing) which was tweaked in later OSes.
IE11 however does not use Cleartype but a type of greyscale antialiasing instead. Therefore text is less sharp than what we have been used to since XP. (MS has made the same backwards moves in the Windows 8 tablet interface and Office 2013.)
This is a discussion about desktop apps, including desktop IE and Chrome for windows. Desktop IE11 has this problem.
For tablet and smartphone rendering, yes greyscale antialiasing compensated for with higher dpi may be a fine solution, although there is nothing preventing sub-pixel antialiasing either differently for each orientation or only turned on when in the normal orientation.
chrome probably still leads in performance and stability... the only big issue it has is it seems to eat ram for breakfast. at least on windows, havent run linux recently enough to know...but have googled it and im not alone in this issue.
For those who prefer GDI font rendering to DirectWrite, is there a way to switch back? DirectWrite is pretty much designed for high-DPI displays only; without sharp snapping to the pixel grid, it looks crappy and blurry on standard resolution screens.
Actually the opposite. The whole reason for DirectWrite's existence is to make fonts look better on low-DPI displays. If you have enough DPI then no font smoothing tech is necessary.
Haven't noticed any blurryness on my 1440p 27" screen with the new Chrome and that should be a pretty standard DPI.
Should be good on my 1080p 11.6" Laptop where I had to disable the upscaling for Chrome (run Windows at 150% because of touch screen) which made it look non-fuzzy, but also tiny. :D
Changing the display font size to "Smaller - 100%" did the trick for me. Although now I have really small text in my browser tabs and Windows menus, etc... This is preferable to having all the text too large or fuzzy in Chrome with this new update. I'm running a Dell 24" monitor at 1920 x 1200.
Awesome. I always thought Chromes fonts looked too aliased in comparison to IE or Firefox or Opera, though I preferred it in many regards. Though recently it's strangely slow for me, Opera is serving as my best choice right now.
Are you kidding me? Directowrite is PATHETIC. it renders fuzzy on standard (aka 720 p) displays - and looks nothing short of crappy. Thank goodness - if you go to chrome:flags - and disable directwrite - to get back to sharp fonts before Chrome 37. Someone needs to stop this Direct write madness - that is one of major reasons why I do not use IE in Windows 8. Due to this IE 11 It looks like crappy fuzzy
Directwrite made some forums look like crap on both my work computer and at home. Including Anandtech's forums. Disabling it made it look like normal for me.
Yep because it squishes the text together and puts the underline for words right against the letters. This makes everything terrible to read the AT forums.Turning it off is preferable to trying to zoom or change the default font to me.
I didn't realize it, but at home with a 1440p display and using Chrome Remote Desktop, after update 37 it became clear and sharp. Before it was always slightly blurry, and it may have been due to my default zoom of 110%. Perhaps this was the fix, or they just fixed Remote Desktop. I really didn't notice a change in web text, but then I use OS-X, Linux, and Windows daily, so I'm used to the variation.
everyone - please go to teh chrome bug page and voice frustrations with this chrome 37 directwrite madness. they broke a perfectly good GDI render with this directwrite madness. more noise there - better it would be to get it fixed. right now they won't even acknowledge the problem. go to bug https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?i...
Unless you can contribute something to help fix the problem, vitriol that some people post there makes it harder to find the useful comments to help fix the problem. Don't post unless you have something helpful to contribute. It won't help.
I am extremely disappointed with this new update. I so prefer Chrome to IE because it is much faster, the resolution appearance is truly disgusting. Everything is so much larger, even with reduction in font size and zoom. I am using 90% zoom and fonts and websites are enormously distorted and 75% makes it almost impossibly small. I also play a game on facebook and with this update the game's appearance is truly disgusting- and it was great until the update. Are these things going to be fixed in the next update?
THANK YOU for the fix disabling the Direct Write feature. Now everything is back to normal and I can play my game once again. I am very pleased with the fix that was offered. I added one step in advanced settings and changed the page view to 100% and all is right in the world again! Yippee
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blackmagnum - Tuesday, August 26, 2014 - link
Seems like Chrome has become lazy and lagging behind its competitors in many areas.mmrezaie - Tuesday, August 26, 2014 - link
How? I am using it on Mac and Linux, and I have no other alternative that is even remotely better than it. Although I prefer a more trustworthy distributer of chromium and not get the compiled form from Google directly. Firefox is getting far behind. opera was never there for me. Safari is limited to Mac OS.inighthawki - Tuesday, August 26, 2014 - link
Both FireFox and IE have had DirectWrite font rendering for ages. And I don't know about IE, but Firefox has also had a password manager interface like the one above for as long as I can remember.Alexey291 - Tuesday, August 26, 2014 - link
that's nice when you're using windoze. What if you're not?inighthawki - Tuesday, August 26, 2014 - link
Then I'm sorry that your platform doesn't have a technology like DirectWrite to actually take advantage of, and thus can't be as good?I'm not sure what you're looking for in an answer here. Windows is the vast majority of the PC browser marketshare, so when you compare the "quality" of browsers, most people don't care if Firefox sucks on Linux compared to Chrome on Windows, because that's not what the overwhelming majority of users use.
damianrobertjones - Friday, August 29, 2014 - link
You might need to check your keyboard as it's 'windows'Alexvrb - Tuesday, August 26, 2014 - link
Well you know since the article was about the Windows version of Chrome, it seemed pretty apparent that the OP was commenting on the Windows version of Chrome.WinterCharm - Thursday, August 28, 2014 - link
On OS X Chrome is horrible at power management. I only use it for flash content because it's a leech that sucks battery.erple2 - Saturday, August 30, 2014 - link
I have found that it's not necessarily Chrome, but with enough tabs open, the dGPU kicks on instead. Apple claims it is because chrome tries to do more webgl than it should, but I'm not sure I buy it (yet). I don't seem to have that problem with safari or Firefox.B3an - Tuesday, August 26, 2014 - link
Chrome has always been behind in many areas. Part of the problem is because it still supports the ancient Win XP, so does not make use of newer features and API's in Win7/8.x.IE11 actually gets many of the basic things right - great GPU acceleration, unrivalled smooth scrolling with touch, and good font rendering. But sadly it doesn't have enough user features or addon support for me to use it.
CSMR - Tuesday, August 26, 2014 - link
IE11 has poor font rendering.XP had good font rendering technology with Cleartype (subpixel antialiasing) which was tweaked in later OSes.
IE11 however does not use Cleartype but a type of greyscale antialiasing instead. Therefore text is less sharp than what we have been used to since XP. (MS has made the same backwards moves in the Windows 8 tablet interface and Office 2013.)
epobirs - Wednesday, August 27, 2014 - link
ClearType doesn't work well when the attitude of the display panel is subject to change, making it ill-suited to the tablet/smartphone era.CSMR - Wednesday, August 27, 2014 - link
This is a discussion about desktop apps, including desktop IE and Chrome for windows. Desktop IE11 has this problem.For tablet and smartphone rendering, yes greyscale antialiasing compensated for with higher dpi may be a fine solution, although there is nothing preventing sub-pixel antialiasing either differently for each orientation or only turned on when in the normal orientation.
Tegeril - Wednesday, August 27, 2014 - link
"Desktop IE" runs on tablets.jabber - Wednesday, August 27, 2014 - link
Give it an AdBlocker and a bit more Tracking control and I might be tempted.jdub_06 - Tuesday, November 4, 2014 - link
chrome probably still leads in performance and stability... the only big issue it has is it seems to eat ram for breakfast. at least on windows, havent run linux recently enough to know...but have googled it and im not alone in this issue.JDG1980 - Tuesday, August 26, 2014 - link
For those who prefer GDI font rendering to DirectWrite, is there a way to switch back? DirectWrite is pretty much designed for high-DPI displays only; without sharp snapping to the pixel grid, it looks crappy and blurry on standard resolution screens.BillyONeal - Tuesday, August 26, 2014 - link
Actually the opposite. The whole reason for DirectWrite's existence is to make fonts look better on low-DPI displays. If you have enough DPI then no font smoothing tech is necessary.greatcaffeine - Tuesday, August 26, 2014 - link
Go to chrome://flags in the browser, and you'll find a flag to disable DirectWrite.Flunk - Tuesday, August 26, 2014 - link
Turn off Cleartype font antialiasing in the control panel. Then you'll get your "sharp" text and you'll get it in everything.Death666Angel - Tuesday, August 26, 2014 - link
Haven't noticed any blurryness on my 1440p 27" screen with the new Chrome and that should be a pretty standard DPI.Should be good on my 1080p 11.6" Laptop where I had to disable the upscaling for Chrome (run Windows at 150% because of touch screen) which made it look non-fuzzy, but also tiny. :D
madwolfa - Tuesday, August 26, 2014 - link
I had to tweak the ClearType tool to get rid of the fuziness on my 1440p 27" screen. Somehow GDI rendering was still a bit sharper for me.HankP - Tuesday, August 26, 2014 - link
Changing the display font size to "Smaller - 100%" did the trick for me. Although now I have really small text in my browser tabs and Windows menus, etc... This is preferable to having all the text too large or fuzzy in Chrome with this new update. I'm running a Dell 24" monitor at 1920 x 1200.HankP - Tuesday, August 26, 2014 - link
To clarify, I meant changing the Windows system display font size to "Smaller - 100%".tipoo - Tuesday, August 26, 2014 - link
Awesome. I always thought Chromes fonts looked too aliased in comparison to IE or Firefox or Opera, though I preferred it in many regards. Though recently it's strangely slow for me, Opera is serving as my best choice right now.sdmarathe - Wednesday, August 27, 2014 - link
Are you kidding me? Directowrite is PATHETIC. it renders fuzzy on standard (aka 720 p) displays - and looks nothing short of crappy. Thank goodness - if you go to chrome:flags - and disable directwrite - to get back to sharp fonts before Chrome 37. Someone needs to stop this Direct write madness - that is one of major reasons why I do not use IE in Windows 8. Due to this IE 11 It looks like crappy fuzzyTegeril - Wednesday, August 27, 2014 - link
Discussing graphics quality on a TN 720p display that is quite possibly 14 or 15" diagonal is rich.bnjohanson - Wednesday, August 27, 2014 - link
uhhh,,,....no it isn't.
fumanstan1 - Wednesday, August 27, 2014 - link
Directwrite made some forums look like crap on both my work computer and at home. Including Anandtech's forums. Disabling it made it look like normal for me.cmdrdredd - Wednesday, August 27, 2014 - link
Yep because it squishes the text together and puts the underline for words right against the letters. This makes everything terrible to read the AT forums.Turning it off is preferable to trying to zoom or change the default font to me.hechacker1 - Wednesday, August 27, 2014 - link
I didn't realize it, but at home with a 1440p display and using Chrome Remote Desktop, after update 37 it became clear and sharp. Before it was always slightly blurry, and it may have been due to my default zoom of 110%. Perhaps this was the fix, or they just fixed Remote Desktop. I really didn't notice a change in web text, but then I use OS-X, Linux, and Windows daily, so I'm used to the variation.sdmarathe - Wednesday, August 27, 2014 - link
everyone - please go to teh chrome bug page and voice frustrations with this chrome 37 directwrite madness. they broke a perfectly good GDI render with this directwrite madness. more noise there - better it would be to get it fixed. right now they won't even acknowledge the problem. go to bughttps://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?i...
erple2 - Saturday, August 30, 2014 - link
Unless you can contribute something to help fix the problem, vitriol that some people post there makes it harder to find the useful comments to help fix the problem. Don't post unless you have something helpful to contribute. It won't help.troublesniffer - Thursday, August 28, 2014 - link
I am extremely disappointed with this new update. I so prefer Chrome to IE because it is much faster, the resolution appearance is truly disgusting. Everything is so much larger, even with reduction in font size and zoom. I am using 90% zoom and fonts and websites are enormously distorted and 75% makes it almost impossibly small. I also play a game on facebook and with this update the game's appearance is truly disgusting- and it was great until the update. Are these things going to be fixed in the next update?troublesniffer - Thursday, August 28, 2014 - link
THANK YOU for the fix disabling the Direct Write feature. Now everything is back to normal and I can play my game once again. I am very pleased with the fix that was offered. I added one step in advanced settings and changed the page view to 100% and all is right in the world again! Yippee