Microsoft sure likes to stir things up. IE7 will turn on ClearType by default. ClearType, a type of font rendering that can improve the readability of text, or make it blurry, is a current Windows XP setting that is turned off by default. Whether ClearType will help or hurt is, sadly, besides the point with the recent IE7 move: many designers are upset that Microsoft is overriding a system setting. But, whether you agree with the IE team or not, you should understand what ClearType is and how it works. It's supposedly the next big thing in font rendering and an improvement over the anti-aliasing most of us are familiar with when designing text for Web pages.

What is ClearType

ClearType will be turned on by default in Vista, the next version of Windows. In XP, however, it is turned off, so most users do not even know about ClearType.

ClearType is a sub-pixel font rendering technology from Microsoft designed to improve the readability of fonts on LCD monitors. The pixels on LCD screens are fundamentally different than the traditional pixels on CRT screens.

Here is an excellent overview, Sub-Pixel Font Rendering Technology.

From the creator of ClearType, Bill Hill, read this Microsoft blog post, IEBlog: ClearType in Internet Explorer 7.

What Are Some Public Reactions to the IE7 Change?

I have turned on ClearType in Windows XP (Display Properties » Appearance » Effects) and, at first, I did not like it, because it looked blurry. After a few minutes, though, it started to grow on me. Some people like ClearType, some people do not.

But something almost everyone agrees that they dislike very much is the IE team's decision to turn on ClearType by default in IE7 on Windows XP, which would override the XP system setting. They are doing the same thing for Outlook as well, by the way.

Overriding user's system settings without permission is not a good idea. And people have let Microsoft know about it on the IEBlog at ClearType Text in IE7.