It is possible to do with canvas but it requires that the background of the text not be transparent. Will need some rework.

Without:

WIth:

I'm not sure why but this has never worked for me in the old model on Linux or macOS (just tested on stable). Perhaps this means we can consistently get the text rendering properly on all platforms as I can git it rendering with AA quite easily in a proof of concept.

@Tyriar there are some conditions under which sub-pixel AA stops working, I suggest you check https://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/internals/antialiasing-101/

@bpasero yeah I remember looking into that when I was trying to get it working but couldn't figure it out. Regardless, I got it working very easily on canvas when trying, so when it's done in xtermjs/xterm.js#973 it should work consistently for everyone 😃