Editing QuickDraw GX (section)

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'''QuickDraw GX''' was a replacement for the [[QuickDraw]] (QD) [[2D computer graphics|2D graphics engine]] and Printing Manager inside the [[classic Mac OS]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2003-07-08 |title=Mac OS 8 and 9 Developer Documentation: QuickDraw GX |url=http://developer.apple.com/documentation/macos8/Legacy/QuickDrawGX/quickdrawgx.html |access-date=2024-04-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030708121726/http://developer.apple.com/documentation/macos8/Legacy/QuickDrawGX/quickdrawgx.html |archive-date=2003-07-08 }}</ref> Its underlying drawing platform was an [[object oriented]], resolution-independent, [[retained mode]] system, making it much easier for programmers to perform common tasks (compared to the original QuickDraw). Additionally, GX added various curve-drawing commands that had been lacking from QD, as well as introducing [[TrueType]] as its basic font system.<ref>{{Cite web |last=alib-ms |date=2020-06-10 |title=A brief history of TrueType - Typography |url=https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/typography/truetype/history |access-date=2024-04-26 |website=learn.microsoft.com |language=en-us}}</ref>

While GX addressed many of the problems that QD had, by the time it was made available, most developers had already developed their own solutions to these problems. GX also suffered from causing a number of incompatibilities in existing programs, notably those that had developed their own QD extensions. This, coupled with opposition from an important fraction of the developer market, especially [[PostScript]] owner Adobe, and a lack of communication from Apple about the benefits of GX and why users should adopt it, led to the technology being sidelined.

QuickDraw GX saw little development after its initial release and was formally "killed" with the purchase of [[NeXT]] and the eventual adoption of the [[Quartz (graphics layer)|Quartz]] imaging model in [[Mac OS X]]. Many of its component features lived on and are now standard in the current Macintosh platform; TrueType GX in particular has become a broadly used modern standard in the form of [[OpenType variable fonts|OpenType Variable Fonts]].