Adobe, the long time leader in font and publishing technologies, introduces CoolType, an important advance in font-rendering technology that dramatically improves on-screen text resolution. CoolType enables publishers of digital content, such as eBooks, to provide their customers with a reading experience that approaches the clarity of type on the printed page.
Why we need it
The relatively poor readability of text on-screen compared to on paper has been a significant obstacle to popular consumer acceptance of eBooks. The source of the problem is low-resolution computer screens. While the resolution of the typical printer is 600 dots per inch (dpi) or more, the resolution of the average laptop, handheld, or desktop screen is only 72 or 96 dpi. This means type that looks crisp and smooth on paper appears coarse and jagged on-screen.
To combat the "jaggies," traditional grayscale font anti-aliasing (also called "font smoothing") technology smoothes out text by filling in the edges of bitmapped characters with various shades of gray pixels, which can make text at small point sizes appear blurry.
How it works
CoolType creates clearer, crisper type using a font-rendering technique called color anti-aliasing, which works on digital liquid crystal display (LCD) screens such as those in laptops, handheld devices, and flat-panel desktop monitors. Unlike conventional anti-aliasing, which manipulates only whole pixels, CoolType controls the individual red, green, and blue subpixels on a digital LCD screen.
By adjusting the intensity of the subpixels independently, the strokes of a character can be aligned on any subpixel boundary, thus achieving sharper, more precise smoothing along the edges of characters. Using this subpixel technique, CoolType can dramatically increase horizontal resolution for improved readability.
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While traditional on-screen font rendering works only with whole pixels (left), CoolType can split pixels into subpixels (right), dramatically increasing text resolution. |
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Key benefits
For consumers equipped with a digital LCD screen and the free Adobe Reader 6.0, CoolType will mean a better on-screen reading experience - one that's much clearer and much easier on the eyes.
For eBook publishers and their content providers, this improved reading experience means CoolType will overcome a major hurdle to the widespread acceptance of eBooks.
Available in Adobe Reader, The Acrobat family, and other Adobe applications, CoolType will work across all platforms, including Windows, Macintosh, and UNIX. It will also be compatible with PostScript® Type 1, TrueType, and OpenType fonts. Best of all, this cross-platform, cross-font compatibility means publishers won't need to modify documents to provide their customers with digital content that's more pleasant to read.
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