Stefan Schimanski wrote:
This should explain it on Mac:
http://michelf.com/weblog/2006/subpixel-antialiasing-achilles-heel/
Here is the important part:
That said, I think Quartz is pretty smart because subpixel
antialiasing works on semitransparent backgrounds, like menus pulling
out from the menu bar. It implements some sort of gradual degradation
of the subpixels. For instance, if the background on which it draw
text has a transparency of 50%, half of each subpixel value will be
standard antialiasing, the other half being subpixel antialiasing.
So if an application draws in an offscreen buffer with a transparent
background — surprise! — no subpixel antialiasing. Until Apple
implements some kind of aRaGaB compositor, application developers will
have to choose between a fast application with off-screen rendering or
subpixel antialiasing, but not both.
Indeed... That's too bad! I was pretty proud of this solution :-(
I think the choice is easy to make for developers.
Hum not so clear... what do you recommend? Either we disable the cache
on Mac or we make it a preference settings for those preferring the
speed over the look...
Anyway, thanks for the investigation Stefan.
Abdel.
