Does being happy make it easier to solve problems?

Have they researched whether or not Cleartype is just for LCDs or not? I still routinely get different answers from people within Microsoft whether or not this is the case.

Have they researched whether or not Cleartype is just for LCDs or not? I still routinely get different answers from people within Microsoft whether or not this is the case.

It’s not just for LCDs. It works best on LCDs, though, but they say it offers readability improvements even on CRTs (I’m using it on a CRT and I can’t imagine not using it).

I’ve found that my eyes start hurting after about 30 minutes of Cleartype on my CRT at work but my eyes are totally fine with Cleartype on my LCD at home.

It may just be something specific with my eyes though. I’m nearsighted (have trouble seeing distant objects) so I don’t need glasses when I’m on the computer. Have they done studies of the CRT vs LCD with near and farsighted people to see if there’s any difference there?

I’ve found that my eyes start hurting after about 30 minutes of Cleartype on my CRT at work but my eyes are totally fine with Cleartype on my LCD at home.

It may just be something specific with my eyes though. I’m nearsighted (have trouble seeing distant objects) so I don’t need glasses when I’m on the computer. Have they done studies of the CRT vs LCD with near and farsighted people to see if there’s any difference there?

Being happy pretty much makes you better at everything. Problem solving, metabolism, immune system, etc

Yes, if that’s the case, has there been any research connecting Cleartype on CRT with schizophrenia, brain spasms, migraines, anti-social behavior and the like?

It takes me about 5 seconds before it bothers me. (Black should not glow RGB!)

Robert, can you tell those in the Cleartype group that have told me it’s only for LCDs that they are wrong as well.

Yes, if that’s the case, has there been any research connecting Cleartype on CRT with schizophrenia, brain spasms, migraines, anti-social behavior and the like?

It takes me about 5 seconds before it bothers me. (Black should not glow RGB!)

Robert, can you tell those in the Cleartype group that have told me it’s only for LCDs that they are wrong as well.

…but … but your side is so boring to look at! I read you a lot, but in Opera’s rss reader. Your writing is very alive, so there’s a big contrast here!

I don’t use cleartype on either my crt or lcd, can’t stand it!

What I do use is high resolutions, bring on the dpi baby. this is what will reduce eyestrain. it’s proven too that the higher the dpi text is, the easier it is to look at and consume.

don’t believe me? ask kevin.

IMHO you guys should be working on using vectors for the entire screen, scalable graphics for all!

I don’t use cleartype on either my crt or lcd, can’t stand it!

What I do use is high resolutions, bring on the dpi baby. this is what will reduce eyestrain. it’s proven too that the higher the dpi text is, the easier it is to look at and consume.

don’t believe me? ask kevin.

IMHO you guys should be working on using vectors for the entire screen, scalable graphics for all!

I wonder, does making people smile make them better searchers?

And MSFT is going to solve this by having better looking fonts?

The ClearType team has a blog…

http://blogs.msdn.com/fontblog/

…not much posted so far but what’s there is good stuff, including some posts from Kevin.

The ClearType team has a blog…

http://blogs.msdn.com/fontblog/

…not much posted so far but what’s there is good stuff, including some posts from Kevin.

BlogReader: actually, having something aesthetically beautiful does cause more smiles, his research shows. On my computer screen fonts and whitespace probably make up 80% of the screen. So, improve those, and you’ll get a lot more productivity and happiness.

Scoble, but you do a worse job of it than Apple. Subpixel smoothing (I’m still curious how you think subpixel smoothing is for CRTs when there are NO subpixels) is reviled by large percentages of the world. Your apps still have the Grey App Window of Nothing. The Cleartype team itself explains how Microsoft beefed up the PPI for fonts because your display system throughout most of its history wasn’t very readable at true PPI.

So, yes, aesthetics do make people smile. The point was: Microsoft isn’t good at it.

Scoble, but you do a worse job of it than Apple. Subpixel smoothing (I’m still curious how you think subpixel smoothing is for CRTs when there are NO subpixels) is reviled by large percentages of the world. Your apps still have the Grey App Window of Nothing. The Cleartype team itself explains how Microsoft beefed up the PPI for fonts because your display system throughout most of its history wasn’t very readable at true PPI.

So, yes, aesthetics do make people smile. The point was: Microsoft isn’t good at it.

So, yes, aesthetics do make people smile. The point was: Microsoft isn’t good at it.

Thanks for making that point (which I should of stressed above). MSFT is just putting lipstick on a pig.

But all of the blame doesn’t lie with Microsoft — they’ll put this into PowerPoint and now we’ll have really awful PP presentations but now with snazzy fonts.

happy mood makes people better problem solvers.

I call that out. Oft times when I am most frustrated, depressed and ready to give up, only then does a solution manifest itself, stuck in a story-line in the middle of a script, and bammo it hits. Being happy has zero to do with it, more a sheer Act of God.

Being happy is a drugged state, you need dissatisfaction and unhappiness with the status quo to even SEE the problem in the first place. Being ‘not happy’ with ‘good enough’ gets you over that next hurdle. Happy people don’t even see the problems to solve. Big breakthoughs, and the big “Eureka’s” most often happen by chance, as someone was burning the midnight oil, frustrated as all out, consumed by some problem, not happy, not jet-setting and not partying all the live long day. Not happy.

Only look to history…

Johannes Gutenberg, was sued for “breach of promise of marriage”, borrowed money from family, borrowed from Johann Fust (a VC of the day) to produce the 42-line Bible, but was sued after for breach of contract and went bankrupt. Got another Angel, Conrad Humery and started it all up again, he was a metalworker, woodcuts left him with nothing to do, frustrated (not happy), hence the punch and mold system of moveable type.

In Electric light, Davy, Swan and Edison where not happy, sheer drudgery work in finding the right filaments for long-lasting electric light, something later perfected by Whitney and Coolidge.

John Logie Baird, the father of television, was plagued by ill health and was declared unfit for WW1 duty, failing in several company ventures (soap and jam), deciding then to become an inventor, failing for nearly a decade, but later inventing the mechanical TV system, which later on lost out to the electrical system, with the BBC abandoning his system. But he went on to develop a whole host of ‘ahead of his time’ systems, largely lost to time now.

Happy? Progress is not made from happiness, the pursuit yes, but not the state of being.

happy mood makes people better problem solvers.

I call that out. Oft times when I am most frustrated, depressed and ready to give up, only then does a solution manifest itself, stuck in a story-line in the middle of a script, and bammo it hits. Being happy has zero to do with it, more a sheer Act of God.

Being happy is a drugged state, you need dissatisfaction and unhappiness with the status quo to even SEE the problem in the first place. Being ‘not happy’ with ‘good enough’ gets you over that next hurdle. Happy people don’t even see the problems to solve. Big breakthoughs, and the big “Eureka’s” most often happen by chance, as someone was burning the midnight oil, frustrated as all out, consumed by some problem, not happy, not jet-setting and not partying all the live long day. Not happy.

Only look to history…

Johannes Gutenberg, was sued for “breach of promise of marriage”, borrowed money from family, borrowed from Johann Fust (a VC of the day) to produce the 42-line Bible, but was sued after for breach of contract and went bankrupt. Got another Angel, Conrad Humery and started it all up again, he was a metalworker, woodcuts left him with nothing to do, frustrated (not happy), hence the punch and mold system of moveable type.

In Electric light, Davy, Swan and Edison where not happy, sheer drudgery work in finding the right filaments for long-lasting electric light, something later perfected by Whitney and Coolidge.

John Logie Baird, the father of television, was plagued by ill health and was declared unfit for WW1 duty, failing in several company ventures (soap and jam), deciding then to become an inventor, failing for nearly a decade, but later inventing the mechanical TV system, which later on lost out to the electrical system, with the BBC abandoning his system. But he went on to develop a whole host of ‘ahead of his time’ systems, largely lost to time now.

Happy? Progress is not made from happiness, the pursuit yes, but not the state of being.

But an audience that’s threatened and intimidated can also learn faster and can solve problems better. Fear and paranoia is a good motivating factor, as are things like Territorialism, Pride/Ego or Nationalism. “Thrilling” can become an endorphinistic placebo effect. People that are “thrilled” become so focused on the pretty mountainous view, that they miss the broken bridge up ahead. Life is absurd, ‘thrilling’ can dull the senses, missing the problems itself.

Hey, look at oh say, Microsoft, they earn faster and can solve problems better, when a competitor nipping at heels, not when they are “thrilling” us. The “thrill” gave us Internet Explorer abandonware, the thrill (read: hype) gave us Vista trainwrecks. The more fear that is put into Microsoft, the better they do. Screw your thrill.

Ever think that Google’s secret weapon isn’t their search engine, or Google Base, but rather Dennis Hwang? He’s the artist that draws the fun things around the logo.

I wouldn’t underestimate that – especially 3/4 years ago…it was the clean screen and results pages that attracted me to Google…and there I stayed, until the recent improvements in MSN

Ever think that Google’s secret weapon isn’t their search engine, or Google Base, but rather Dennis Hwang? He’s the artist that draws the fun things around the logo.

I wouldn’t underestimate that – especially 3/4 years ago…it was the clean screen and results pages that attracted me to Google…and there I stayed, until the recent improvements in MSN

Thank you, Mr. Scobel, for the mention of Deep Fun. I am honored beyond recompense.

Do you know if Mr. Larsen has published any of his research? It is an unfortunate necessity, our having to prove to people that fun is relevant and even valuable.

FY additional I, you might find this article – http://www.helpusgettobett.com/?p=35 – of at least tangential relevance.

Kevin hopes to get the paper published, so we haven’t posted it on the MS typography site yet. Here’s a write up of Kevin’s presentation on this at the ATypI conference in Helsinki earlier this year – http://www.atypi.org/news_tool/news_html?from=http://www.atypi.org/07_Helsinki/10_news/index_html&newsid=317 – unsurprisingly the typographers and information designers loved it – if someone can actually “prove” good design = happier, more productive workers then this is very useful to the community as they sell design services to potential clients.

As for the other comments #10 sums it up nicely – all type designers can do is make great type and provide it to users – how it’s used is up to them – good typography can’t be dictated. With ClearType, the ClearType Collection fonts, the earlier Web fonts, OpenType and XAML., we provide a framework for world-class industry-leading typography – what developers and users do with it is really up to them. But I can suggest some good books on typography if you’re interested.

With respect to Apple, their ClearType-like engine seems to have improved with every release, but in my opinion it doesn’t match the current WPF implementation. As for their other products from what I’ve seen the “Myriad” UI font implemented in the color iPods (especially the Nano) is not rendered well.

ClearType on CRT’s – technically no one can explain why it should be better than other forms of smart anti-aliasing, but in taste-tests it scores better. So if people like it on CRT’s they should be allowed to use it.