Editing ClearType (section)

{{Short description|Font-rendering technology by Microsoft}}
[[File:ClearTypeLine.PNG|thumb|1 and 2 depict standard renderings of a ClearType and purely [[Spatial anti-aliasing|anti-aliased]] line, respectively, while 3 and 4 are the same lines enlarged. 5 shows how the ClearType line is rendered on a subpixel level.]]
'''ClearType''' is [[Microsoft]]'s implementation of [[subpixel rendering]] technology in rendering text in a [[font]] system. ClearType attempts to improve the appearance of text on certain types of [[computer display]] screens by sacrificing color fidelity for additional intensity variation. This trade-off is asserted to work well on [[LCD]] [[flat panel]] monitors.

ClearType was first announced at the November 1998 [[COMDEX]] exhibition. The technology was first introduced in software in January 2000<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.microsoft.com/typography/links/news.aspx?NID=1135|title=First ClearType screens posted|publisher=Microsoft Typography|date=2000-01-26|access-date=2008-03-20}}</ref> as an always-on feature of [[Microsoft Reader]], which was released to  the public in August 2000.

ClearType was significantly changed with the introduction of [[DirectWrite]] in [[Windows 7]].<ref name=ails>{{cite web|last1=Giannattasio|first1=Tom|title=The Ails Of Typographic Anti-Aliasing|url=http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/11/the-ails-of-typographic-anti-aliasing/|website=Smashing Magazine|date=2 November 2009|access-date=11 August 2015}}</ref>

With the increasing availability of [[HiDPI]] displays after 2012, subpixel rendering has become less necessary.