Dave Hyatt has recently checked in to the WebKit repository some basic support for using the ClearType text rendering system, which uses a different algorithm for subpixel anti-aliasing than the current CoreGraphics libraries do. Windows users will find that that makes text in Safari look similar to text in other web browsers and elsewhere on the system.

To experiment with that, you need to download the latest WebKit nightly build for Windows and set Safari’s ‘WebKitFontSmoothingType’ preference to a value of

‘4’. The preferences are stored in an XML property list file in the folder /Documents and Settings/username/Application Data/Apple Computer.
There are many caveats though, as that is clearly just the first step of a work-in-progress. At present the ClearType cipher path doesn’t support the opacity, text-shadow, -webkit-text-stroke, or -webkit-text-fill CSS properties, amongst other things. Let’s hope that development dampens down the recent heated debate on font rendering.

Orginal post by Nicholas Shanks