Disable ClearType / anti-aliasing only Total Commander

[mba]

On Windows you can't disable font smoothing for each individual application. You can enable or disable it only system-wide. Some applications look good with ClearType, some don't. I prefer Tahoma or MS Sans Serif fonts in Total Commander unsmoothed. It looks good, convenient and easily readable. Enabling font smoothing makes it look a bit chaotic.

I'm aware of Delphi's TFont.Quality property which determines how the font on a label or anywhere on the screen is rendered. If it's set to fqNonAntialiased, it should not be anti-aliased.

As well as letting the user choose even dialog fonts, it would be a good idea to enable-disable font smoothing. It won't even be hard to implement, I think.

[Horst.Epp]

And you know that TC x64 is no longer coded in Delphi ?
Also I don't see strange display in TC with Clear Type enabled.

[mba]

If you refer to Total Commander x64 being compiled with Lazarus/FPC, the property exists there as well.

Well, you could say "I don't see strange display in TC with the system font" or "I don't see strange display in TC with system colors". Still you do have the option to change the font as well as the colors, to your preference.

You don't see strange display but I do. I prefer Tahoma with mono/bitmap "smoothing" which only rendered when ClearType disabled system-wide. It was a big mistake that Microsoft made ClearType rendering system-wide and did not introduce an option to disable it on a per-application basis. For example, Google Chrome renders much smoother fonts (via DirectWrite) when ClearType is enabled. Some applications just look ugly with ClearType.

So this would be a configuration option. A really good one to have. An option in the font customization dialog in Options.

[mba]

I was curious and created a sample application in Lazarus. Now it is confirmed that this is possible under Windows 7 with ClearType enabled.

Image: http://loller.hu/allyouneed.png
Font: Tahoma (TrueType)

All you need to do is set the Quality property of the font to fqNonAntialiased. At small font sizes, around 8-10 pt, non-smoothed fonts can give a much crisper and more readable look.

Unfortunately Windows won't let us configure font rendering on a per-application basis. This is why it would be great to have this in Total Commander at the Configuration -> Options... -> Fonts pane.

[deckard]

Just wanted to say that I agree: TC looks blurry to me with ClearType enabled. I always disable it for TC to look better.

[petermad]

I always disable it for TC to look better

I always disable it to make everything look better - unfortunately Microsoft forces it down your throat for many of their own applications, despite disabeling it on system level - grrrr.

[Amitabha613]

I've encountered the very same problem a while ago.

I prefer Tahoma or MS Sans Serif fonts in Total Commander unsmoothed. It looks good, convenient and easily readable. Enabling font smoothing makes it look a bit chaotic.

I use Droid Sans Mono font - perfect match for TC, imho. However, it looks significantly different with ClearType on and off.

Have a look at this:

ClearType is off, looks perfect:

http://shiva.myjino.ru/public/_pics/TC_ClearType_off_ok.png

ClearType is on - obvious degrading in readability:

http://shiva.myjino.ru/public/_pics/TC_ClearType_on.png

Unfortunately Windows won't let us configure font rendering on a per-application basis. This is why it would be great to have this in Total Commander at the Configuration -> Options... -> Fonts pane.

Definitely. Please please please consider implementing this option to tweak font antialiasing in TC.

[petermad]

2Amitabha613
It is already implemented since TC 9.10:

FontQuality=0 Let the user set the font quality, e.g. to enabled antialiasing or Cleartype even when it's disabled globally in Windows.
0:DEFAULT (as configured system-wide),
3:NONANTIALIASED,
4:ANTIALIASED,
5:CLEARTYPE,
6:CLEARTYPE_NATURAL

So use: FontQuality=3 to disable Font Smoothing.

[Amitabha613]

Thanks a lot!

Lesson - pay more attention to the release notes. Many thanks to Mr Ghisler for implementing this feature.

[dsp]

2Amitabha613
It is already implemented since TC 9.10:

FontQuality=0 Let the user set the font quality, e.g. to enabled antialiasing or Cleartype even when it's disabled globally in Windows.
0:DEFAULT (as configured system-wide),
3:NONANTIALIASED,
4:ANTIALIASED,
5:CLEARTYPE,
6:CLEARTYPE_NATURAL

So use: FontQuality=3 to disable Font Smoothing.

Where do I find these settings? I looked in wincmd.ini and could not find them.

[Stefan2]

FontQuality=0 Let the user set the font quality, e.g. to enabled antialiasing or Cleartype even when it's disabled globally in Windows.
0:DEFAULT (as configured system-wide),
3:NONANTIALIASED,
4:ANTIALIASED,
5:CLEARTYPE,
6:CLEARTYPE_NATURAL

Where do I find these settings? I looked in wincmd.ini and could not find them.

( cross posting from >> viewtopic.php?p=456040#p456040 , read there for more )


Hi and welcome.

Default settings are not written to the ini, you have to add the config line yourself if in need for it.
Search the keyword in the help and read than from start of the page for the instructions.


Please note that "Fontquality" belongs to the [Configuration] section:

TOTALCMD.CHM
Settings in the file wincmd.ini
[Configuration] General settings
Fontquality=0
Let the user set the font quality, e.g. to enabled antialiasing or ClearType even when it's disabled globally in Windows.
0:DEFAULT (as configured system-wide),
3:NONANTIALIASED,
4:ANTIALIASED,
5:CLEARTYPE,
6:CLEARTYPE_NATURAL

If still unclear, ask again.