Mozilla FireFox Tips & Tricks: Activate ClearType Font

By Garrett Blanton posted on Monday, November 10, 2008 - (How To's)

On computers running Windows Vista and Windows XP, ClearType delivers improved font display quality over traditional forms of font smoothing or anti-aliasing. The goal of ClearType was to improve the readability on color LCD displays with a digital interface, such as laptops and flat panel displays.

Recently I changed desks within the office, which also meant a switching out computers. My new computer is much faster, but after downloading Mozilla Firefox 3.0 I noticed that web pages did not have the same clean effect as the other computer I was using. After much frustration my co-worker showed me a trick that fixed everything! Now, I'm going to share the same tip with you.

1. Right click on your desktop and select "Properties".

2. Now click the "Appearance" Tab , and then click the "Effects" button.

3. Now select the "ClearType" effect in the second drop down menu box and make sure there is a check in the checkbox.

4. Click Ok 2 times, and you're done!

Now open Firefox and browse to any website, you will see an immediate effect in the font rendered in your web browser.

To dial in the ClearType font on your computer to its maximum , visit the ClearType Tuner located on the Microsoft typology page and follow the on screen instructions.

http://www.microsoft.com/typography/ClearType/tuner/tune.aspx

Tags:

Mozilla Firefox, ClearType, Microsoft

Comments (14)

By Roger Hamilton posted on Wednesday, November 12, 2008 @ 3:50 PM

I just made the changes on my computer and it looks amazing! Thanks for the clear instructions and the useful information. Hope to see your new updates soon.

By Roger Hamilton posted on Thursday, November 13, 2008 @ 3:42 PM

ClearType really makes it nicer to read and less harsh on the eyes. Thanks for sharing!

By Icon Collection posted on Friday, November 14, 2008 @ 10:58 AM

Yay! Very nice tips your co worker given to you, it totally solved my problem! I have bookmark this page for future and for my friends also. Thanks for sharing with us!

By singapore posted on Tuesday, February 3, 2009 @ 5:40 AM

Wow, I can really see the change in the resolution - its clear resolution. Thanks for the helpful tips.

By Singapore Property posted on Friday, February 27, 2009 @ 9:09 AM

Hey! I didn't know about this. Thanks for sharing with us. I see great difference. The words previously are coarse and looks traditional. With this, my eyes don't hurt anymore. Why didn't people mention about this previously?

By kat posted on Monday, April 13, 2009 @ 7:40 AM

Thank you soooo much for posting this! :) Totally solved my problem, too. IE sucks in codes so I needed to switch to Moz, but I can't read the text properly. Haha. Anyway, thanks! :)

By Abhishek posted on Wednesday, August 4, 2010 @ 8:59 PM

Thanks a lot for this tip. I recently installed Windows XP again and was mortified seeing the text on IE 6 and Mozilla 3.6.2

Installing IE 7 fixed the problem as the ClearText HTML is turned on by default. But I don't use it much and prefer Firefox. Your instructions helped me out and I can see clear fonts in Mozilla Firefox as well. Thank you. :)

By Lori posted on Friday, January 21, 2011 @ 5:34 PM

Thanks for the tip! We just changed computers at work, and the poor font rendering puzzled me. This solution totally fixed the problem.

By Ali Ali posted on Monday, July 11, 2011 @ 11:49 PM

It works and really helped me to get rid of this s--- problem. thanks dude

By Mumin posted on Friday, February 17, 2012 @ 2:18 PM

I did this ages ago but then forgot how to do it. A huge thanks, the internet just seems unbearable without Cleartype!

By Code Black posted on Friday, February 24, 2012 @ 3:33 PM

Thanks for the tip Garrett, the website looks good but this changed has also changed by desktop icons there size is grown and they have become bigger which do not look too attractive.

By DJ Avery posted on Tuesday, March 13, 2012 @ 5:23 PM

Ahhhh.... Thank you. Internet Explorer cheats because it does ClearType even if you don't have it activated, but it great now to have smooth fonts everywhere.