Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 44668
Formulas font looks worse in OOo 2.0
Last modified: 2013-08-07 14:54:45 UTC
I had some formulas in 1.1.4. When i opened the file in 2.0 beta, the font looked thinner and generally deformed. I tried to make it bold to make it look better, but it still doesnt do the job. I dont know if converting it to pdf or printing it makes it better. But i would be less inclined to use the new version as is or turn in work that was done using it (I'm a phd engineering student, formulas are crucial)
Created attachment 23619 [details] document showing bad rendering of 'equations' and 'formulas'
MRU->TL: the formulas in the attached document in deed look very bad. This was much better in OO 1.1.x.
Rewassigned to TL.
If this couldn't be fixed for OOo2.0, it should be fixed for OOo2.0.1.
MRU->SJ: it looks more like a problem in displaying OLE objects; the wrongy displayed formulas are all Ms Equations. When setting the document in read-only mode, the objects are displayed well (like in OO 1.x). but in edit mode, the signs in the objects are displayed much thinner.
As checked with MRU, it is not a regression, looks the same in OOo1.1.4. Due to heavy workload we will not have time to fix any bugs in Windows Metafile import now, so I change the target.
*** Issue 45512 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
Corrected title.
*** Issue 46425 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
accepted
Created attachment 26225 [details] picture of the rendering quality with OOo src680m101 on winxp
sj->mru: I don't see a problem with the rendering quality, as you can see in the attachment. So I need a more precise description of the problem, otherwise this issue can't be fixed. Maybe it's a matter of scaling, but even in MS Office formulas don't look good if they are too small.
MRU->SJ: I had a further look at it, and I found out, that this is a matter of zoom factors. Because the document is saved with "optimal" zoom, the factor itself varies on different systems. On my OO it opens with a zoom factor of 101 %, where the fonts in the metafile look ugly. When changing the zoom to 104 % (which also happens when switching to read-only mode), the metafile will look much better. Due to all these facts, I changed the Prio to 4 and target to later.
Hi developers, hi "sj" in particular, I watched the issue for some while. What I observed is that OOo1.9.84 (and versions around that, including the beta) indeed had a horrible rendering quality compared to OOo1.1.x. This already has improved to OOo1.9.100 (the latest I have). Meanwhile I would call it acceptable, although still not optimal (The small equation signs are still too blurred). But maybe this explains why you "don't see a problem with the rendering quality" any more. But I agree to lower the priority now. Luckily I started making screenshots, so I'll attach a screenshot collage with a direct comparison of OOo1.1.3 vs. 1.9.84 vs. 1.9.100. Zoom was always 100%. The OS was and is WinXP SP2. It's interesting to see the differences.
Created attachment 26241 [details] Comparison formula quality in OOO1.1.3/1.9.84/1.9.100
sj: The latest attachment from matthiasbasler demonstrates that formula rendering has been improved (OOo1.1.3 and OOo1.9.100 is nearly identical). So there is nothing that can be done. I prefer to close this issue, since there is no solution for better rendering in unfavourable scaling factors (except of supporting antialiasing that is a new feature and will most probably be done by thb for OOo 9.0).
Yes, I agree. The quality has improved. We really shoulödn't fix around some special zoom factors.
Closed.
Following note should be made here (It drove me nearly crazy today until I found the solution.): The formula rendering quality is NOT ONLY dependent on OpenOffice. Under windows it is also much dependent on the anti-aliasing selected in Windows directly. 1. Under Linux: Anti-aliasing is turned on and off using the option OpenOffice.org -> View -> Screen font antialiasing (German: OpenOffice.org -> Ansicht -> Bildschirmschriften glätten 2. Under windows such option doesn't exist. It exists in the Control Panel. Open View options in the Control Panel, select tab "Display" -> "Effects". In the dialog there are options to select no anti-aliasing, "Normal" or "ClearType" anti-aliasing. What is selected, heavily determines how the formulae look in OOo. Moreover ClearType can be configured (google to find out how to do this), which will result in different looks again. ... I wonder how to check quality of formula rendering under these circumstances....