January 29, 2013

Am I the Only Person Left Who Hates Anti-Aliasing?

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I’m not trying to pick on the New Republic here, but I’m curious about something. They launched a redesigned website yesterday, and here’s how the main text font renders on my PC:

Why does it look so bad? Because I’m running Windows with ClearType turned off. Does anyone else do this, or am I the only person left on the planet who finds ClearType intolerable for day-to-day use? If I’m the only one, then I understand why some magazines don’t bother optimizing their body fonts for either mode (it’s not just TNR). But if I’m not the only one, then why not use a font that works for everyone?

PREEMPTIVE TECH NOTE: Yes, my monitor is running at its native resolution. Yes, I know how to set up ClearType. Yes, I know that most people prefer the mushy look of anti-aliased type. But I don’t, and never have. I’m just curious about whether I’m a lone holdout at this point. I wouldn’t be surprised if I am. ClearType has been turned on by default in Windows for many years now, and my guess is that very few people these days realize it’s something they could turn off even if they wanted to.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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