IE7 ClearType Rocks (Or More Accurately, Win XP ClearType Rocks)!

February 15th, 2006

I downloaded IE7 primarily to see what problems it would cause with my existing clients’ Web sites. I must say, I was surprised at how little trouble this upgrade will cause! Microsoft seems to be listening well and learning about what designers and end users want in a browser.

IE7 adds tabbed browsing, RSS subscription, and best of all - ClearType. After a couple of weeks of regularly using IE7, I have to say that this enhancement is by far the most significant change for the better in Web browsing history in the last few years.

IE7 is easy on my eyes! For someone who spends most of every day in front of a computer, that’s a compliment indeed. Edit 2/18/2005: Still easy on my eyes when reading sans-serif type, but I’m beginning to see the blurriness on serif type as a real problem with cleartype.

Of course, not everyone agrees!

There’s an interesting article about ClearType over at Designorati.

Edit: As pointed out over on Digg by Rob, ClearType is a Windows XP feature that has been integrated into IE7. It is not technically an IE feature. Until now, it had to be enabled for every application at a system level. IE7 allows you to apply it to the browser only.

Entry Filed under: Book & Software Reviews, Technology