My texts in Photoshop not sharp ... need help

They have: 15 posts

Joined: Aug 2004

I am using Photoshop 7. Would like to design a banner at 72 or 96 dpi and save it as gif. I've used all the font options (crisp, sharp ..) but the text are not sharp like the ones you see in this forum's logo. Why is this happening ?

KarenArt's picture

She has: 354 posts

Joined: May 2001

Lots of factors can influence how your font will come out.
What font are you using?
What size are you using?
Are you resizing it or doing any special text effects?

I usually like crisp for my fonts, but there's been a couple of occasions where strong worked better.

on a side note... why 92dpi?
I have 3 sizes I save at. 72 for web, 300 for print and 1200 for artwork prints. Is there something (else) I don't know about saving at 92?

gotta finish redesigning my sites so I can show them again.

The purpose of education is... to get more jokes!

They have: 1 posts

Joined: Aug 2004

PC standard is 72 dpi, the Mac is 96 dpi...
this is why the fonts on a Mac appear about 2 points less than the size on the PC.

At least thats how mine work Smiling

Roo's picture

She has: 840 posts

Joined: Apr 1999

Make sure you are viewing it at 100%. If you are zoomed out the text will appear to be nasty looking when it really isn't.

They have: 15 posts

Joined: Aug 2004

i usually use arial (8 or 9 pt) no effects just red colour
i view it the original size (100%)
72 or 96 pixel / inch because banner is for web use only

KarenArt's picture

She has: 354 posts

Joined: May 2001

In my experience, you just aren't going to be able to get a crisp, readable font when it's that small. It might be that my eyes aren't good enough anymore, but 11pt is the smallest I can go to still retain readability.

Sometimes you can "cheat" a little to make the text seem clearer by increasing your spacing.
Here's the difference... the first one is strait arial with nothing done to it. The second one is exactly the same except the spacing has been increased to 50.

For me the 9 and 10 pt are still too hard to read, but others may not have a problem with it.

You can increase (or decrease) your letter spacing through the character window by changing the number in the option circled here.

Why don't you show us what you have. The crispness and readability of your text depends a lot on the colors and/or images you're using as well.

Hope that helps some! Laughing out loud

gotta finish redesigning my sites so I can show them again.

The purpose of education is... to get more jokes!

They have: 15 posts

Joined: Aug 2004

Thanks everyone and KarenArt.

In my surprise, A cheap banner making software did the job with the fonts way sharper and clearer than Photoshop ! But the limitations of cheap banner softwares is that you cannot freely arrange the texts and graphics. Hope Photoshop developers will pay more attention to the 'small' fonts feature in terms of sharpness and clarity. If some cheap banner making softwares can handle the job then an EXPENSIVE Photoshop should do it even better ...

KarenArt's picture

She has: 354 posts

Joined: May 2001

I'm not sure if it's Photoshop's fault.
Perhaps the banner making software was using a different font which was designed to look good at a small size.

Take at look at the page at http://www.wpdfd.com/pixelfonts.htm

Regardless, I'm glad you found something that worked for you!
Enjoy the banner making. Be careful... it can be an addictive habit. Wink

gotta finish redesigning my sites so I can show them again.

The purpose of education is... to get more jokes!

They have: 15 posts

Joined: Aug 2004

KarenArt - I used 'Arial' font on both softwares. It turns out to be the banner's is sharper and clearer.

Thanks for the link and reply.

He has: 152 posts

Joined: Jun 2004

photoshop is expensive when you know where to get it for free Laughing out loud

KarenArt's picture

She has: 354 posts

Joined: May 2001

Saurons Vault wrote: photoshop is expensive when you know where to get it for free Laughing out loud

Shhhhhh!.... you're not supposed to talk about those boards... the walls have ears. Wink

pui, I'm not sure what the banner program is doing to make the text clearer. Maybe someone with more photoshop experience than I have knows some tricks to crisp up the text.
...but sometimes it's not important how you got it to work... just that it works. Wink
Enjoy!

gotta finish redesigning my sites so I can show them again.

The purpose of education is... to get more jokes!

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