Improve Font Smoothing in Mac OS X [QuickTip]

This may be old news for some, but those new to Mac OS X will find it extremely useful. In Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, Apple removed the ability for the user to adjust font smoothing via System Preferences. For a flat panel monitor, some may prefer to view with the anti-aliasing turned up or down. This simple tweak can reduce eye strain, and improve the rendering of fonts on larger non-Apple branded monitors.

To adjust, open Applications/Utilities/Terminal and type the following:

defaults -currentHost write -g AppleFontSmoothing -int 2

Then reboot to see the changes. You can use any number between 1 and 4, which is the default. The value 2 is apparently best for flat panel screens. If this works well for you, let us know! Further information with comparison screenshots at macworld.com.
For discussions on this and other topics, register today at tonymacx86.com!