Text appears blurry on Desktop (Windows)

[AgentOak]

Description

Compared to other applications and Element Web in Firefox, text appears blurry in Element Desktop.

Steps to reproduce

• Open Element
• Observe any text

Example screenshot taken with system font Arial, 14pt in a random matrix room:

(open in new tab so it is unscaled)

All fonts in the UI are affected, not just chat messages. I don't have any other applications where I have seen this problem before. In other applications and Firefox, fonts look very sharp by comparison. This is the same text screenshotted from Element Web in Firefox 82:

Through older issues I've found https://github.com/electron/electron/blob/master/docs/faq.md#the-font-looks-blurry-what-is-this-and-what-can-i-do and it very much looks like that problem, but as I understand this is supposed to be fixed already?

Logs being sent: no

Version information

• Platform: Desktop
• OS: Windows 10 2004 x64
• Version: 1.7.12

[turt2live]

downgrading because of the impact it has on the collective user base: most people do not appear to be reporting this, or it's not severe enough to be considered a problem by those people.

[Ryonez]

I'd been just waiting quietly to see if something would happen.

Have been experiencing the blurry text myself.

[AngelGonePro]

Yes, I've had the same experience with the blurriness, Firefox does fine, but it seems even still after disabling Hardware Acceleration that it still is blurry. Discord was the same until l I disabled Hardware Acceleration. I'm not exactly sure whats causing it.

Also marked over some things that I didn't want people to see, sorry if it looks Photo-shopped because of it. Just privacy reasons.

[AngelGonePro]

Yes, I've had the same experience with the blurriness, Firefox does fine, but it seems even still after disabling Hardware Acceleration that it still is blurry. Discord was the same until l I disabled Hardware Acceleration. I'm not exactly sure whats causing it.

Also marked over some things that I didn't want people to see, sorry if it looks Photo-shopped because of it. Just privacy reasons.

[...]

Ah, nvm, turns out I had to quit the background instant in the small icon section then start it for it to work. So Disabling Hardware Acceleration worked.

[thany]

Maybe I will give this a go, even though I believe it should be fixed in the app, not in the computer...

It does baffle me that hardware acceleration can cause blurriness. You'd expect hardware acceleration to only, you know, accelerate 🤨

[Palid]

@thany @DjStephLordPro @Ryonez can you provide as much details about your OS and hardware as possible? This very much seems like a graphics card drivers issue, and not really something that can be easily fixed in an app. With some more details it'll be easier to push it forward in the chromium bug tracker :)

[thany]

Alright. Just tell me what you need.

[Palid]

Alright. Just tell me what you need.

Anything you can tell: Your OS and/or flavor + version if applicable Graphics card Graphics card drivers and version What is the actual issue What are the workarounds that fixed it so far.

Thanks.

[kg333]

Same issue here with text blurriness. Disabling hardware acceleration worked.

Requested information	Response
Element Version	Element version: 1.11.43 Olm version: 3.2.14
Your OS and/or flavor + version if applicable	Windows 10 22H2 19045.3448
Graphics card	Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090
Graphics card drivers and version	Nvidia 536.23
What is the actual issue	Text looked slightly blurry
What are the workarounds that fixed it so far.	Disabling hardware acceleration worked. Changing to Microsoft Sans Serif or MS Reference Sans Serif improved slightly but did not fix the blurriness completely.

[thany]

Disabling hardware acceleration worked.

It's not a solution though, please keep that in mind. Besides, lucky that this workaround fixes it for you, but it's not the fix for everybody.