I have never owned a Mac, but from seeing them in use in the past the rendering is definitely easier on the eye that Windows even with ClearType enabled.
I was trying out Safari for Windows the other day and it reminded me of the font difference so I had a quick search for how the rendering was done to see if it could be reproduced. Google soon offered up various suggestions, but the main one was for a little app called GDI++
On the developer’s website is a brief history of the app stating that development had actually ceased but describing its core function:
‘gdi++.dll is a replacement for the Windows default font rasteriser, which gives you a better font smoothing capability, just like Mac OS X. It hacks one of the most important core dlls for graphics, gdi32.dll.’
Now fortunately others have continued the app so various improvements have been made – the last version I could find was gdi0870 which I have found to be stable.
Once you have extracted the zip file run the gditray.exe and it will start the app. In the system tray, you will see a little G icon – right click and select Enable. The rendering starts immediately but you may find you have to restart applications or move your mouse over certain areas. If you do want to use the program all the time you can add the program to the Start Menu.
The difference is pretty cool:
Before:
After:
If you use Chrome you need to tweak the exe to include the –no-sandbox at the end of the shortcut to allow it to render with GDI++
So for those Windows users who fancy a different looking UI, or Mac users who have to spend their working day in front of a PC this may be a nice looking extra for you.
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