Mac vs Windows Browser Rendering

There's a difference in terms of how the Mac and Windows antialias text with subpixel rendering, etc. Cleartype on Windows is a pretty cool technology, but there's a vast differential in the approach taken by both operating systems. This is clearly visible when viewing this very web page across two different operating systems.

Click on the image below to see a zoomed in comparison of the differences I'm talking about.



You'll notice that on the top half of the image, that a Mac rendering of a page resembles something more akin to what you would see on a printed piece of paper. On the bottom half, you'll notice that the page still looks... "computery".

I won't get into the argument over which one is more readable... People who use one platform get used to the rendering on that platform, so it isn't even really a matter of taste.

What is more interesting — and I don't have a screen cap to show it — is that Safari on Windows renders its pages just as they are on the Mac.

So what's the point of all this? It appears that this site is best viewed on a Mac (any browser), and Safari on Windows. It will look fine in IE and Firefox, but the text won't render quite so nicely as in Safari for Windows.

I haven't had the chance to test the page on the Wii or PS3 yet, but for the time being, that can wait.

Tags: mac, windows, differences, rendering, subpixel