Hello,
I have found big problem with Ubuntu 24.10 (it was visible for other people also for 24.04) - system doesn’t enable LCD antialiasing in various Gnome/user apps,
I have used earlier Ubuntu 22.04 and everything was OK. LCD antialiasing was with us (PC users) about 25 years, unfortunately so far everything shows, that source of problem are changes in GTK4 (I’m user and last statement can be wrong, unfortunately devs in the end haven’t provided clear info in Font antialiasing problems (#7197) · Issues · GNOME / gtk · GitLab and closed bug report).
What I suspect?
On fractional scales, fonts and hinting – GTK Development Blog says, that in GTK4 there is not used LCD antialiasing (this can lead to the logical conclusion, that GTK3 had at least some elements)
Devs confirmed some changes between GTK3 and GTK4 and discussed some methods of mitigating problems in Blurry text everywhere in GTK4 (#3787) · Issues · GNOME / gtk · GitLab
I’m not sure, if changes in File Explorer, Settings, etc. between Ubuntu 22.04 and 24.04/24.10 are fully connected with it, but fact is fact - LCD aliasing was working and was working fine, now it’s gone and for me it looks, that the whole ecosystem is removing it silently (it doesn’t look like Ubuntu problem too).
Can be this somehow provided back?
Using 2K or 4K monitors is not possible in many situations and fonts without LCD antialiasing on low-res screens are problematic for reading. And no - there are no other methods for decreasing problem than implementing this technology.
I understand, that GTK3 maybe had some non-perfect code, but GTK4/Gnome without such crucial and basic functionality should not even be considered in prod (also statement, that GTK3 code maybe was working in my specific case should never happen).
I hope, that topic will be taken seriously and devs creating this ecosystem will not behave like Microsoft or other companies removing basic things and saying, that users should adapt - we shouldn’t go back, unfortunately current situation reminds me “advanced” Windows 8 “desktop” created after XP / Vista GUIs with all nice effects.
With kind regards,
Marcin Wiacek