Something that has been bugging me for a while, has been how difficult it can be to read some text i...

# compose-desktop

[Abdelilah El Aissaoui]

Something that has been bugging me for a while, has been how difficult it can be to read some text in my compose app in Linux, despite using a large enough font and normal weight (400).

I've been doing some research about it and I just noticed how the same app with the same font family (Open Sans) and same config looks different in MacOS, it seems like it has a bit more weight compared to the Linux version (check attached images).

I'm quite sure the font config is correct, could it be a Skia issue? Or perhaps intended behavior? Has someone else faced a similar issue? 🤔

PD: I've tested Jetbrains Runtime but, as expected, nothing changed.

[romainguy]

macOS uses a different anti-aliasing that makes fonts look "bolder". This isn't specific to Compose

[Abdelilah El Aissaoui]

Aha! I was wondering if it had something to do with antialiasing. Thanks then! I'll look into my fonts

[Colton Idle]

there was a good blog post on font rendering (i even think romain posted on twitter about it years ago or something) but my google fu is killing me. 😭

[Colton Idle]

oh wait. found it. phew. thanks chrome history. fun read

https://tonsky.me/blog/monitors/