490809 - Enable ClearType only on Firefox

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Core :: Layout: Text and Fonts, enhancement)

Description

[Gabriele Best [:Gabri]]

I think we should add an option for user that want enable Cleartype only on Firefox on Windows without activate it in the entire system.

Comment 1

[Jo Hermans]

why ?

Comment 2

[Gabriele Best [:Gabri]]

Because lots of users want it xD.
I have not this problem 'cause I have activated cleartype by default on the OS.

Comment 3

[joffrey.romero]

hello.
Sometimes, gpedit.msc blocks acces to the settings screen.
I think we should add an option for user that want enable Cleartype only on firefox (ms windows)..

Comment 4

[joffrey.romero]

Attachment: Maybe an idea. Patch compatibility : mozilla xulrunner sources 1.9.1.3

What do you think about that?
( thanks to John Daggett at https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=504698 )

Comment 5

[Gabriele Best [:Gabri]]

Closing as WONTFIX.

When this enhancement was filed in 2009 the relevant target was
Windows XP, where ClearType shipped OFF by default and users wanted
a per-application toggle to enable it in Firefox without changing
the system setting. That target platform is no longer supported by
Firefox, and on every currently supported Windows release (7
through 11) ClearType is ON by default at the OS level.

The technical landscape has also moved on:

• Firefox now renders text via DirectWrite (gfxDWriteFonts.cpp),
  which uses the system's font smoothing setting
  (SPI_GETFONTSMOOTHINGTYPE) — by design, to respect OS-level
  accessibility and readability preferences.

• The full set of ClearType tuning parameters is already exposed to
  power users via about:config:
  gfx.font_rendering.cleartype_params.{gamma, enhanced_contrast, cleartype_level, pixel_structure, rendering_mode, force_gdi_classic_for_families, force_gdi_classic_max_size}
  (see modules/libpref/init/all.js). This covers the per-Firefox
  tuning use case for users who already have ClearType enabled.

The remaining gap — forcing ClearType on when the OS has it off —
is intentionally not provided: overriding the OS font smoothing
setting from a single application would conflict with the user's
accessibility configuration and the OS-wide rendering convention.