Question

I’ve built a site for a company and i used a google webfont on some of the text.
Problem is – Text looks sharp and good on both my computers (mac and pc).
But when my customer is viewing the webpage on their computer its all grumpy and very hard to read… They run Internet explorer 8 – it shouldnt be any problem.

Any suggestions what could be wrong?

Screenshot from their computer

Answer 1

Looks like an issue with ClearType.
What version of Windows do they have? I bet it’s XP.

This article explains how to set up ClearType

http://www.jvfconsulting.com/blog/27/Mozilla_FireFox_Tips_Tricks_Activate_ClearType_Font.html

You can then use Microsoft’s web tool to fine tune ClearType if it still looks a little wonky

http://www.microsoft.com/typography/cleartype/tuner/step1.aspx

Edit

If you’re worried about general users having the same issue, one possible solution is to detect if ClearType is enabled or not, and then change the font-family accordingly.

Look here for details:
Can you detect if Cleartype is enabled on PC via javascript?