The difference in font rendering between the body and the panes in the list column are hard to ignore.
The most aggravating issue is that the fonts in the list column aren’t crisp. The body has no trouble rendering crisp edges. The list column looks as though it is behind a misted pane of glass.
The other issue is that the fonts in the list column are drawn at a much smaller size than the body. Despite being set to be the same size, the list column always draws the fonts much smaller.
The image below displays the difference in rendering of Optima 12pt in list and body.
The screen capture is displaying a little blurred when shown inline. Open it in a new tab to see it at 100%.
I think I see what you’re talking about, but not sure what I can do about it. For me, the issue is less pronounced in dark mode, which is what I’m usually using. But other than give you the chance to pick your font and font size (which I’m already doing), I’m not sure what else I can do. Do you have another Mac app with a similar interface where the list view looks different?
The example uses Optima 12pt but the issue is not with Optima. It affects all fonts that I choose.
The most obvious question for me is why the list displays 12pt at a much smaller size than body? It feels as though list view is artificially constraining the display size and that may also be the reason that the font is so heavily anti-aliased, causing the blurring.
Well, this may be part of the answer: the Display tab is formatted using WebKit, which is Swift’s internal web browser. So the Display tab is being formatted as a web page, using HTML and CSS. But the List, Outline and Tab views are all being formatted as Cocoa views, using AppKit APIs. So given the different engines formatting the text, the same point size could well come out looking a bit different.
Have you tried just making your List font size a bit bigger?
In my case, I use an altogether different font for the List views, which may be why I was never struck by an inconsistency between the two.
Sorry this didn’t occur to me right off: I guess I wasn’t fully understanding your situation.
The difference in formatting between WebKit and AppKit makes sense. It should have occurred to me too. I know that you’re rendering the body as a web page and I know that you’re using native objects for the lists.
I can easily select a different font for list views, and adjust the font size to suit my preferences. I like Optima for reading, but I’ll select a compact font for list view.
