ZoomText - Change in font smoothing in Edge/Chrome/Firefox
Problem
A ZoomText user who used to operate Internet Explorer who then migrates to Edge/Chrome/Firedox browsers notices a change/loss of font smoothing whilst browising the web.
Applies to
- ZoomText
- Fusion
Note
This article discusses ongoing issues with ZoomText font smoothing. Freedom Scientific propose to improve support in on an application by application basis to restore xFont support. This is in active development and may be made available via software update.
Resolution
- Historically ZoomText had xFont support in Internet Explorer which was retired June 2022 by Microsoft.
- In Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Firefox there are security related challenges that prevent direct font replacement. Only Geometric font smoothing is available in the web browsers whilst the developers find a technical solution for each browser, this work is ongoing in 2026. The likely prognosis is a different solution will have to be created for each browser to fix the problem.
ZoomText 2022 and earlier
The xFont feature was disabled part way through the ZoomText 2022 cycle. The decision was made due to Vispero being of fewer places where xFont successfully operated at that time this was also a problem in the current Microsoft Office builds. ZoomText users are advised xFon is restored in ZoomText 2024 with Microsoft Office build 2408. Work to restore xFont in the web browsers and elsewhere is still ongoing.
Why has this happened
Since the development of Internet Explorer the security landscape around web broswer security has changed significantly. Developers have been forced to harden web browsers against injection attacks. This has had the unintended consequence of making direct font replacement impossible to implment. Instead only geometric font smoothing is possible which is of lower quality. We are advised by the Vispero that work will need to take place seaprately for each browser to restore xFont to that browser.