CHAPTER 9 The Next Steps for Web Typography
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}aDvanCeD TeChniQueS: PiXel DenSiTY anD gRaDeS
We have already looked at different rendering technology in different
OSes, but device manufacturers, led by Apple, introduced another variable
to us: screen resolution. Pixel density affects the appearance of type on a
given device. Take, for example, the evident differences in type rendering
on iPhones and iPads which are all made by the same manufacturer. Imag-
ine what happens when you add more densities into the mix.
As an additional issue both on iOS Retina^82 and Windows ClearType^83
screens, when the device orientation is changed, the stack of subpixels is
not parallel with the line of text anymore, but instead it’s perpendicular to
it. Because of that, the rendering engine cannot rely on the layout of sub-
pixels for subpixel anti-aliasing.
I’ve already introduced you to the vague topic of anti-aliasing on iOS
devices, but regardless of whichever theory is true, there’s still an issue of
text appearing less elegant in landscape orientation on both iPhones and
iPads. I suppose at this point you might want to go out to your balcony and
scream to the sky, so please go on — I don’t mind.
Feeling better? Shall we continue?
Since designing for the screen is very similar to designing for news-
papers, many solutions to our problems can be found in the print design
world. Back in the day, type designers invented graded fonts, slightly ad-
justed variants of the same type style, which helped book and newspaper
designers better control the ink performance on different paper qualities.82 http://www.muleradio.net/thetalkshow/6/
83 http://smashed.by/cleartype