[moneydance] fonts vs Java vs MD vs my configuration

[Edward Reid]

When I first saw MD, my first reaction was ugh, what ugly fonts. Reaction 
hasn't changed. I figured this was just a Java problem.

BUT -- a couple of days ago I realized that it's NOT a universal Java 
problem. For example, the applet at 
http://www.jpowered.com/help/fonts/index.htm is a demo that lets you type 
in text and show it in a few fonts, sizes, and styles. I searched in the 
JDK and found a few applications that can be used to demonstrate fonts, 
including StylePad and Font2DTest. The displayed letters look MUCH better 
in these applications than in MD. And I don't know why. I would think that 
if it were a MD problem generally, I'd have heard a lot about it here. So 
it must be some interaction, but I don't know what.

I have Font Size set to Default in the MD prefs. I also have Look and Feel 
set to Windows, though AFAICT that doesn't affect the fonts used. The 
capital M shows the problem well: the diagonal lines look good, but the 
vertical lines are very thin. Many letters look like they have little 
bulges in various places -- the way outline fonts looked on screen ten 
years ago, before anti-aliasing and improved outline rendering became common.

Font2DTest is especially interesting in that it has a checkbox to turn 
anti-aliasing on and off, and it makes a huge difference. It also allows 
selection of any font installed on my system. I had assumed that Java was 
limited to a few fonts for compatibility, but this does not seem to be the 
case.

StylePad is more limited but can show real text, not just letters in a box 
as Font2DTest does.

Now, I can't get either of these to quite match what MD looks like on my 
screen. But their vastly better display makes me believe something is wrong 
-- probably not with MD but an interaction between MD, Java, and my machine.

I'm running MD build 527, WinXP with latest updates, and Java 1.5.6. I 
recently installed a new HD and reinstalled all software from scratch, in 
particular including all these components.

Thoughts?

Edward
Art works by Melynda Reid: http://paleo.org