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Bitmap fonts make computers feel like computers again

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Re: Bitmap fonts make computers feel like computers again

#61

Post by crazygringo »

VorpalWay wrote: post #28
crazygringo wrote: post #4

> Bitmap fonts are the ones that look perfect at their intended resolution. This seems to be the center of the author's argument. But I prefer legibility, readability, being easy on the eye. I also prefer antialiasing for its smoothness. Every screen I have has been Retina for a long time. I greatly appreciate that text is now as legible as it is in books. No distracting jaggies. I don't want my computer to feel like…

> Every screen I have has been Retina for a long time. I greatly appreciate that text is now as legible as it is in books. No distracting jaggies. Not all of us are in that position, and modern font rendering has gotten really bad on non-high DPI monitors, so using a bitmap font has been a way to get rid of the blur and get back to sharp crisp text. For me, I'd rather have jagged text than a blurry literally headache…

OP is taking screenshots of low-res bitmap fonts on a high-res Mac screen (note the perfectly smooth window controls).

They're making an argument for bitmap fonts even on modern Retina displays as far as I can tell, since they're talking about making modern computers feel like older computers.

I'm pushing against that.

Re: Bitmap fonts make computers feel like computers again

#63

Post by ASalazarMX »

VorpalWay wrote: post #34
turtlebits wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Buy a modern monitor or just run your display at a low res and disable antialiasing? Phones are now 500 PPI+, theres no real excuse for using a low DPI screen.

Income and effective cost of things like desktop monitors vary wildly across the world, that argument doesn't really fly.

I vehemently disagree. Recently bought a pretty good and affordable 21:9 Chinese monitor, and I couldn't be happier with it. A good monitor is a basic QOL improvement for IT professionals, and these days they're still cheap because they aren't affected by the recent HDD, GPU, or RAM scarcity.

For reference, I live in Mexico, and bought the monitor with less than two week's worth of groceries. Recognized brands would cost four or five times more, but there are options for every budget.

Re: Bitmap fonts make computers feel like computers again

#64

Post by jameshart »

andrewshadura wrote: post #39
efilife wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone here a couple of months ago made a tool[0] to detect AI writing on websites. This one gets categorized as "pure slop" https://tropes.fyi/vetter/d7cebcde [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47291513

From that website: "Every bullet point or list item starts with a bolded phrase or sentence. Extremely common in Claude and ChatGPT markdown output. Almost nobody formats lists this way when writing by hand. It's a telltale sign of AI-generated documentation and blog posts AND README files (especially with emojis)." That’s bullshit. It’s very common.

I used to do it. Have stopped because AI made it seem uncouth.

Re: Bitmap fonts make computers feel like computers again

#65

Post by ddtaylor »

nimih wrote: post #8
ddtaylor wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Attacking the source of the message instead of the merits. Ad-HomineLLM

AI writing is worse on the merits: it is lower quality and has concerning externalities associated with its production.

Often the commentor wants to take a shortcut and just say it's AI written and hand wave it away.

A comment should argue the merit of the work not attack the source or medium.

Re: Bitmap fonts make computers feel like computers again

#66

Post by ddtaylor »

captainbland wrote: post #11
ddtaylor wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Attacking the source of the message instead of the merits. Ad-HomineLLM

The attention economics are bad more than anything else. LLM articles ask us to put more time into reading it than the LLM put into writing it. Actually committing time to production is the minimum bar which suggests something is worth our time in a world where so much is already vying for our attention.

If a truly amazing thing was released tomorrow that had massive utility you wouldn't care how long it took to create and would just use it.

I get the attention economy is messed up right now, but using it as a justification for being curmudgeonly or abandoning principles is lame.

Re: Bitmap fonts make computers feel like computers again

#67

Post by ddtaylor »

rpearl wrote: post #21
ddtaylor wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Attacking the source of the message instead of the merits. Ad-HomineLLM

an article written by an AI about fonts, when the AI fundamentally does not look at rendered text, is inherently without merit

Those are good arguments to be made regardless of who wrote them. I'm all for actual arguments against the work instead of hand waving it away as AI and being too lazy to say what is wrong with the work.

Can the same argument be made about a writer that is blind? If a blind person submitted work about fonts would we be equally as dismissive?

Re: Bitmap fonts make computers feel like computers again

#68

Post by efilife »

tester457 wrote: post #33
efilife wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone here a couple of months ago made a tool[0] to detect AI writing on websites. This one gets categorized as "pure slop" https://tropes.fyi/vetter/d7cebcde [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47291513

I rather see the prompt they used to make that article, than the article itself. It overstayed it's welcome to say nothing.

This website has a tool just for this. Here's how it went

https://tropes.fyi/aidr/fc7ff499

Re: Bitmap fonts make computers feel like computers again

#69

Post by snvzz »

Lammy wrote: post #55

I am eternally annoyed at GNOME Project for, among many many other reasons, forcing the removal of bitmap font support as of Pango 1.44 due to forcing Harfbuzz as the only supported shaping library: - https://blogs.gnome.org/mclasen/2019/05/25/pango-future-dire... - https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/pango/-/issues/386

I stopped using GNOME at that point, over this.

Re: Bitmap fonts make computers feel like computers again

#70

Post by forbiddenvoid »

addycb wrote: post #3

Ai writing

I immediately suspected AI writing. Then I quickly checked a couple of their older posts, and sure enough: completely different tone, language, grammar.

There may come a day when we can no longer reliably tell the difference, but for now, I'd just prefer not to see this kind of writing popping up on HN.

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