I have just sent an email to IDM support with the text as it can be read below. I invite everybody to do the same who wants a non blurry, fast to process main menu and toolbar in UltraEdit for Windows v23.xx. The more users request this enhancement the higher becomes the priority for implementation (again).

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UE - ClearType always used in Toolbar/Menu Mode even when disabled in Windows display settings

UltraEdit v22.20 recognized the ClearType setting of Windows and displayed text in main menu, toolbar, ... (application window areas) accordingly with ClearType disabled producing a wonderful sharp text display.

I like that as I'm using also on Windows 7 SP1 x64 the Windows Classic desktop theme with color fading for title bar additionally disabled and with ClearType also disabled and with using UltraEdit Classic theme with font Tahoma instead of Segoe UI as application window font which produces also in UltraEdit a main menu and toolbars with only one background color and sharp text with with just black as color. This helps my brain to much faster recognize the text and icons and make also the PNG images create from screenshots much smaller in their file size.

The stylish look of modern user interfaces is hard to process by human brains and by image compression algorithms, but that seems to be no issue for most computer users working very slow on their computers. My colleagues often wonder how fast I work on my computer as they are not even able to recognize what I do when watching me as my brain processes the displayed data on the Spartan user interface of my computer in a speed which their brains can't process as far as my brain because of getting used to filter out important information from lots of graphic noise.

However, with UE v23.00 the ClearType setting of Windows is not recognized anymore and applied accordingly to application window areas of UltraEdit. In Toolbar/Menu Mode the test in main menu is always drawn with ClearType even on using Windows Classic desktop theme, using UltraEdit Classic theme, having Tahoma instead of Segoe UI configured and having ClearType feature disabled in Windows display settings. And the toolbar is also always drawn with a color fading being of no use for me (nor anybody else in real).

I request to implement again support for Spartan user interface as in UE v22.20 with recognizing ClearType setting and applying it accordingly to user interface of UltraEdit and UEStudio at least for Toolbar/Menu Mode.

The ribbon display with ClearType disabled in Ribbon Mode does not bother me as I'm not using this user interface mode because it would make my daily work with UE/UES slower although I control nearly everything in UE/UES with keyboard commands.

I have an additional advice to get a more puristic GUI for Windows Classic fans like me.

1. In Manage Themes dialog click on + button and click on Add new theme.
2. Enter a name for the custom theme and select Classic for Copy existing theme settings.
3. Select the tab Application after pressing OK to create the new theme.
4. Select Windows Classic for Application Style and set as font Tahoma instead of Segoe UI.
5. Close the Manage Themes dialog with a click on button OK.

Segoe UI is a ClearType font designed by Microsoft for ribbon GUI with ClearType enabled. This font is not useful with ClearType disabled.

Menu text displayed with Tahoma is nevertheless drawn with ClearType in UE v23.00/23.10, UES v16.00/16.10 and UC v16.00.

But at least the shadings and 3D effects are disabled with using Windows Classic application style.

Well, I have written that using a theme based on Classic theme with application style Windows Classic has no effect on usage of ClearType for text drawing. Disabling usage of ClearType on ClearType disabled in Windows settings must be re-implemented by the developers of UE/UES. The usage of Windows Classic as UE/UES/UC theme just disables the color gradients, shadings and 3D effects.

Some hints:

Pressing key PrtScr copies entire Windows desktop area to clipboard. Pressing Alt+PrtSrc copies just the active window to clipboard. Therefore Alt+PrtSrc is usually always the better key to use for making a screenshot. Freeware applications like IrfanView (press key C for Capture after installation and starting IrfanView) offer even more options for fast creating 1 or more screenshots (all monitors, just active monitor, just foreground window, just client area of foreground window, a user defined region, an object/window selected with mouse, a fixed rectangle, with or without mouse pointer, ...).

You are using the Windows Classic desktop theme in Windows 98/2000 look. You can easily modify the desktop theme to Windows 95 look. The difference is the color gradient in the window title bar. In Windows 95 look there is also no color gradient in the window title bar reducing the number of different colors on screenshots dramatically (with no icons usually less than 16). In Windows Desktop settings set for color 2 for active and inactive title bar the same color as for color 1. Then the title bar of an active window is complete blue and the title bar of an inactive window is completely gray with no color gradient.