Apple Intentionally Makes Safari’s Type Blurry.
Why is the type so blurry on Safari? Believe it or not, this is intentional.
Both Microsoft and Apple use a technology called sub-pixel rendering. This technology basically splits pixels into three parts (RGB), and allows for three times the resolution flexibility. Microsoft and Apple have two different philosophies when it comes to how to utilize this technology.
Joel Spolsky explains:
* Apple generally believes that the goal of the algorithm should be to preserve the design of the typeface as much as possible, even at the cost of a little bit of blurriness.
* Microsoft generally believes that the shape of each letter should be hammered into pixel boundaries to prevent blur and improve readability, even at the cost of not being true to the typeface.
So, Apple is willing to over-anti-alias the type in Safari in an attempt to make it look prettier. Although the type rendered in Firefox and IE isn’t quite as “pretty”, it is much sharper and more legible. It is doubtful that Windows users will be willing to switch to the fuzzy text found in Safari any time soon.
August 11th, 2007 16:40
Wow! Thanks for explaining that. I thought it was a simple setting that i could change, but unfortunately that’s not the case. I’ll stick to using Firefox.
September 12th, 2007 12:33
Safari is just ugh, I can’t believe they call that piece of junk a web browser. Nothing compares to IE7.
May 3rd, 2008 01:13
I don’t have anything against firefox, but I think the typeface on Safari is more pleasing to the eye and easier to read. What is wrong with that?
August 13th, 2008 08:06
How doth Safari suck? Let us count the ways . . . .
Two immediate observations: text is fuzzy and mostly illegible, and many Web sites do not display correctly. Not even close.
Hey, but other than that it kicks ass! I mean, it’s an Apple product consecrated by Steve Jobs himself, so it’s all good. I’m sure they’ll get it right with the next iteration . . . or the next . . . or the next. One day. Meanwhile, Microsoft sucks RAH!
February 8th, 2009 11:44
Uh, what? The Safari screenshot is WAY more readable. This is not just an opinion, but can easily be verified experientally. Put the browsers up side-by-side, place the screen far away and approach slowly until you can start to read the text. Given the same letter height in pixels that will in all probability be Safari.
For the record, Apple has patented its font smoothing algorithms, but they are implemented in FreeType for Linux. The code is disabled though, but it’s a well-known trick to recompile FreeType and get much improved font rendering which beats Windows every day.
February 23rd, 2009 19:29
Not sure if this is *always* the case, but I have found that my site is showing up quite blurry on Safari. It looks great in IE and Firefox though, and the issue is not just text. It’s mostly affecting the images. Things are not just looking a little pixelated- they are super blurry! So now I have a link on there for people to get Firefox if they find the website not displaying properly at home. It’s kind of a pain to have to do that!
February 28th, 2009 01:18
I just downloaded safari and gave it a whirl on a PC machine. After some googling, found this and other articles - wow! can’t believe Apple would be so stupid. They usually care about the user experience. On a Mac safari looks good on a PC it sucks goat balls. If they want to gain marketshare outside of the Mac platform, which is what they obviously want, then they have to stop being so incredibly dumb about this.
November 29th, 2009 16:28
Well I use a ppc mac and have safari 3.1 it’s better than safari 4,but still often doesn’t respond and often quicks,I’m fed up with it,so now use camino or opera,which look even nicer especially opera and are far more reliable.
March 10th, 2010 10:59
Damn, that’s crazy…