Today, I received an email update from a bug I’ve been following on the Chromium Project (the open-source codebase that constitutes Google Chrome) almost since it was filed.

The issue: since it was released, Chrome has been using the Windows XP-era Microsoft ClearType text-rendering engine on Windows computer. This wasn’t a problem for a while, but once modern websites and web typography matured past the use of web-safe fonts, it became a real issue. ClearType was a remarkable advancement when it was released. It replaced the horrible, jagged text on Windows XP machines with a smoother, more pleasant rendering. As fonts became more complex and diverse, ClearType began to show its weaknesses. When Windows 7 came along, it introduced DirectWrite, a new rendering technology leveraging a computer’s GPU to refine the edges of text displayed on screen. The results are wonderful. Fonts on Windows 7 and 8 machines look precise and highly readable.

The problem remained, though, because not every program on a PC had been written to take advantage of the DirectWrite engine. Chrome, in particular, was a notable offender because of its ubiquity and the seemingly vast developer resources behind it. I was one of the many who had complained about it. But for years, nothing substantial was done.

But now, 5 years since the original bug calling for DirectWrite support was filed, the feature has been implemented and is enabled by default on the latest Chrome Canary build, which will be moving into the more widespread releases as Chrome’s development cycle continues.

I’m not sure why I felt so attached to this bug. I didn’t file it or have anything to do with resolving it, but it had bothered me for so long and I’d received so many emails updates from it over the years that I felt like I, if no one else, should commemorate it. I’ve been using the experimental feature for around a month now and can attest that the experience on Windows is greatly improved.

This was originally published on my blog at post.ryanoshea.com.