Best Font For Small Text Mac

  • Mar 29, 2015  Best font for legibility at small size March 29, 2015 11:43 AM Subscribe I am editing a booklet that will contain text at approximately the same size as Times New Roman 9 pt.
  • However, when it comes to choosing the best font for displaying both text and numbers, the font you choose matters. From a readability point of view, the Times New Roman font is considered to be easier and faster to read compared with other commonly used fonts.

Update: this happens still in 15.24, and 15.25 (Fast)

It should be noted that the small text you're seeing above is not a font. It's all in the same font, but different character sets are used. It's all in the same font, but different character sets are used.

Text

Was:

15.22 has caused many folk on MacBook retina displays to see teeny tiny fonts rendered onscreen when they Reply or Forward email. This is independent of the Font selection and Pts. Size in Preferences.
The solution is to trash Outlook app. Go here and download the 15.19.1 Updated, which when run will install that version.. Launch, and the font problem is then fixed, in 15.19.x. Other problems of course remain.
support.microsoft.com/.../3134241
A *user* posted this rollback fix: More details: https://community.office365.com/en-us/f/153/p/444279/1139362#1139362
A Microsoft moderator closed this thread saying a document details a 'fix', which it doesn't:
https://community.office365.com/en-us/f/153/t/443212?pi14985=2

This thread was opened, to 'replace' the closed: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Format-email-messages-in-Outlook-2016-for-Mac-cb35806b-4174-41d2-9cba-b6b624d988b3?ui=en-US&rs=en-US&ad=US&fromAR=1

That thread isn't helpful at all. Hopefully all of those customers on the original thread find this discussion; and that Microsoft addresses the issue instead of closing this too.

This happened under 10.11.5 and now 10.11.6. After testing Outlook 15.24 and 15.25, I had to revert from a back-up the 15.19.1 app itself and backup of the database, as it would no longer open with 15.19.1.

I used Onyx to rebuild clear Microsoft's Font cache database. The Preferences will update and stick, to say Verdana 14pt., but these don't matter. The Reply or Forward still show super small text.

Keyword: Outlook for Mac 2016 font issues. Outlook 365 for Mac Outlook 15.22 and 15.24 small font problems.

Without a doubt, fonts look much better on Mac (and even Linux) than on Windows. For some reason, Microsoft is adamant about clinging to their failed ClearType rendering system, but it’s users like you and me who have to suffer for itHow To Make Windows Fonts Look Like Mac FontsHow To Make Windows Fonts Look Like Mac FontsEye candy is not a Windows forte. Modern UI (aka Metro) brought improvements, but still lacks in one important area: fonts. We show you how you can get beautiful font smoothing on Windows.Read More.

What’s wrong with the fonts on Windows? They’re too skinny, too frail, and frankly hard on the eyes for long periods of time. Obviously this is a subjective judgment. If you like Windows fonts, then keep at it!

But for those of you who prefer the softer, fuller, and more mature look of Mac or Linux font rendering, then there’s a way to get it: install MacType. (The website is a bit outdated, so install the latest version using the Chocolatey package managerChocolatey: Install Windows Programs From a Command LineChocolatey: Install Windows Programs From a Command LineRead More if you can.)

As far as I can tell, it works just fine on Windows 10 with the exception of a several Microsoft products, like the Office Suite and Visual Studio. Make sure to launch MacType — preferably in service mode — and choose whichever preset looks best to you.

In order to get MacType working with Chrome, navigate to chrome://flags in the address bar and search for these settings:

  • Enable #disable-direct-write
  • Enable #disable-one-copy
  • Disable #enable-gpu-rasterization
Font

Text Generator

Reboot your computer and your fonts should look much better. Note that MacType assumes that ClearType is enabledHow To Make Text Easier To Read In WindowsHow To Make Text Easier To Read In WindowsMost of us spend hours reading on the computer every day, but our computers probably aren’t optimized for reading. The text on our monitors may not be sharp enough or may be too small, especially...Read More on your system.

Mac

What do you think of MacType? Have you had much success with it? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!

Image Credit: C Source Code by MaIII Themd via Shutterstock

Best Font For Small Embroidery Fonts

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Best Fonts For Small Text

  1. If you find the text on your Windows screen at all difficult to read I think the better option is to use the 'Adjust ClearType text' utility built into Windows.

  2. “it’s failed”? Really?

  3. If you like BIG, THICK, BLURRY, soft-edged, color fringing fonts whose sub-pixel elements are intentionally exposed to human vision, then by all means, stick with Mac or Linux defaults.

    If on the other hand, you like to work with small text in order to be more efficient with screen real estate, or have **good or hawk like vision** e.g. you can read small text from afar, or just plain like LASER SHARP pixel-aligned fonts, then Windows is and has been by far the best choice.

    I use Linux and *nix since the mid '90s. I don't wear or need glasses, and I also code and use small text therefore I must always adjust the defaults and do some configuration. In fact I always try to use bitmap fonts whenever I can, old school style, in terminals and vi because of the pixel grid accuracy without blurring caused by anti-aliasing.

    Window's True Type byte code interpreter embeds actual code per font designed by the author of the font that is used to adjust the curves to properly align with pixel grid. This gives TT vector with good byte code laser sharp text similar to bitmap fonts (necessary with small text). Clear Type also does the same to a lesser degree but with unavoidable anti-aliasing. Linux's autohinter is designed to adjust the curves to be too big and fat unfortunately.

  4. http://www.mactype.tk/mactypeinstaller_2013_12331_0.exe no longer exists.

    And this post was an old post from 2014, re-published, it seems.

  5. I installed the Chocolatey Package Manager from the link in the article - restarted the command prompt and typed in 'choco install mactype' as indicated; I got an 'exception error' followed by a popup from Panda antivirus that it had removed the virus 'chocolate.exe'.

  6. Thank you. Works fine on Chrome and many other apps. How I wish Microsoft would just drop ClearType/DirectWrite and switch to FreeType!

  7. 'Without a doubt, fonts look much better on Mac (and even Linux) than on Windows.'
    When did this happen?! For years 'lousy font rendering' has been one of the major complaints dyed-in-the-wool Window Fans have had about Linux.

    • As soon as I saw the headline for this article that was the first thing I thought too.

      Being an at least sometime Linux fan I have been aware of the work being done to improve font rendering in Linux, it appears to have paid off.

  8. I've no complaints with ClearType, and to say 'it's failed' is quite humorous: Ten million copies of Windows 10 (which includes it) have been installed.

    If anything, there's a failure to publicize the ClearType Tuner, which would improve everyone's fonts.

    I've been using Font Smoothing since the monochrome version was made available to Windows 95, and, properly tuned, it works quite well. Like you said, your complaint is 100% subjective.