Re: [matplotlib-devel] backend_svg, backend_cairo on trunk need attention

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On Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:41:26 -0400, Michael Droettboom wrote:
> My concern with subpixel rendering has always been that it's fine for
> interactive use, but for producing plots that may end up on someone
> else's screen or on a printer, it can actually make matters much worse.

Naturally.

As such, cairo lets you explicitly choose what you want to draw by
setting one of the following values in your font options:

 CAIRO_ANTIALIAS_NONE: Use a bilevel alpha mask.

 CAIRO_ANTIALIAS_GRAY: Perform single-color antialiasing (using
    shades of gray for black text on a white background, for example).

 CAIRO_ANTIALIAS_SUBPIXEL: Perform antialiasing by taking
    advantage of the order of subpixel elements on devices
    such as LCD panels

And most importantly, the default value is as follows:

  CAIRO_ANTIALIAS_DEFAULT: Use the default antialiasing for
    the subsystem and target device

So, (excepting bugs), you should really have to go out of your way to
get cairo to do the wrong thing here.

-Carl