- auto: allows the browser to choose a setting itself
- optimizeSpeed: focuses on speed
- optimizeLegibility: focuses on advanced rendering
- geometricPrecision: precise rendering
.myClass { text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; }Here’s a direct comparison of optimizeSpeed and optimizeLegibility, as you can see if you look closely, there are two significant improvements in the more legible version: the ‘ffi’ characters in the first line have been correctly replaced with a ligature, and the kerning has been improved throughout, which is especially notable in the fifth line, where the space between the ‘V’ and the ‘e’ has been corrected. The kerning improvements can be seen more easily in these overlays: Chrome Mac Chrome Windows Firefox Mac Firefox Windows Internet Explorer 9 Windows Safari Mac Browser support is currently inconsistent, however, the fact that text-rendering fails silently in browsers that don’t support it, means that it’s very usable right now. Do you use the text-rendering property in your CSS? Would anyone but a typographer even notice the difference? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. Featured image/thumbnail, fine-tune image via Shutterstock.
Paddi MacDonnell
Paddi MacDonnell is a designer and entrepreneur from Northern Ireland, follow her on Twitter.
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