Often people will post screenshots of websites using their Windows based PC’s, and the fonts simply look terrible. The edges are jagged and just look awful.

Windows has this nice feature called “font smoothing,” which will make all fonts rendered within Windows to appear clearer and look better overall.

Enabling it is simple.

Windows Vista users: Right click on your desktop and click “Personalize,” click “Window Color and Appearance,” then click “Open classic appearance properties for more color options.”

From here you will see the classic Appearance Options dialog available in older Windows versions. Click the “Effects” button. In the dialog that pops up check the “Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts” and select the ClearType option from the drop down menu. Afterwards click Ok and then click Apply.

Windows XP Users: Right click on your desktop and hit Properties. Select the Appearance tab and follow the instructions outlined in the second paragraph above.

Here are screenshots of the differences between having ClearType smoothing enabled, and not having it enabled.

Disabled:

Enabled using Standard Smoothing:

Enabled using ClearType smoothing:

Pay close attention to where it says “Final Fantasy Crystal Cosmo Staff” on the screenshots. That’s where it stands out best.