Word X: Font smoothing bug
Posted by Pierre Igot in: MacintoshApril 15th, 2003 • 6:13 pm
Quartz text smoothing works reasonably well in Word X — but there is a bug that causes Word to “forget” the user’s font smoothing setting and to revert to the default setting (Best for CRT) in document windows located on a secondary flat-panel monitor. (Yes, I have two flat-panel monitors. Lucky me :).)
For example, I can consistently reproduce the bug by opening a Word document, splitting the window in two panes, and moving it to the secondary monitor. The currently active pane stays with its font smoothing at medium, but the inactive pane switches back to the default font smoothing setting, which is much lighter. I can actually see the font smoothing changing after I’ve dragged the window and dropped it in the secondary monitor space.
Moving the same window back to the main flat-panel monitor causes the font smoothing to revert to medium in both panes.
A minor annoyance, to be sure — and one that probably only affects those lucky enough to have a dual-monitor setup with two flat-panel displays, but still… Microsoft’s implementation of Quartz Text Smoothing could only be buggy at least to some extent, couldn’t it?
[This item was submitted to Microsoft through the Mac Product Feedback page.]
September 25th, 2004 at Sep 25, 04 | 4:02 pm
I am afraid this “smoothing” bug mays also appears in Word 2004 and on a single monitor. My experience is that, for some unknown reason, the smoothing setting in the Appearance preferences had suddenly changed to “CRT” — whereas I have a flat-panel display on my 20″ G4 iMac. When I set it back to “flat panel”, Word stuck with “CRT”, leaving me with big clumsy lettering on my display. After fiddling with the Appearence preferences, things suddenly retruned to normal after a few days — also for an unknown reason.
Jean-Pierre
Word 2004 on a 20″ G4 iMac under Mac OS 10.3.5
September 27th, 2004 at Sep 27, 04 | 10:52 pm
I actually got feedback from Apple on this issue back in 2003 and they indicated that it was indeed a bug in Word and that they had provided MS with the necessary information.
I haven’t seen the bug recently myself in Word 2004 (possibly simply because I haven’t used two-pane windows on my secondary monitor), but I am not surprised to hear it’s still there in some form… For such “small” bugs, Microsoft simply doesn’t seem to care at all — even when Apple itself provides them with the required information.