Seeing Jags on Your PC?

As I've been writing/editing this blog solely from my Mac G4, I just now got a chance to check out how it looks on a PC laptop. And though I've browsed the Web on my Dell plenty of times before, I was somewhat jarred by how pixelly the text is...which, of course, makes this blog not very inviting to read. (Sorry about that, PC guys.)

But as an aid to readability for such super-long (yet very informative) text passages, PC users should select the ClearType option under Display Properties / Appearance / Effects. That's Microsoft's very own font-smoothing method for flat-panel monitors and laptop displays. ClearType is usually turned off by default; but on an LCD screen, you can definitely see the difference! And oh yeah...to my knowledge, the ClearType option is only on Windows XP.

(It's the same 'anti-aliasing' effect as Apple's font-smoothing for the Mac. System Preferences / Appearance.)

I'm sure most of you already know and use some form of on-screen font smoothing, for all the obvious reasons. (It makes most screen text better looking and more readable; and overall, it's just easier on the eyes.) So consider this a Public Service Announcement: Unless you actually enjoy reading paragraphs of jagged text on an already dim laptop screen, do your eyes a big, big favor...switch the default!