Simple font-smoothing in Internet Explorer

README.md

The filter and zoom rules in the sample stylesheet above will apply a smoothing/blurring effect to text elements. In the sample stylesheet, these rules are applied to all headers, paragraphs, list items, and table cells, but in practice, you will want to tailor the application of the smoothing effect to only those elements rendering with significant aliasing.

Nota Bene: the filter appears to place an overflow: hidden-style block around the elements being smoothed, so do not apply these rules directly to elements that need to scroll, or which contain absolutely positioned elements that appear outside the boundaries of the element itself.

ie-font-smoothing-sample.css

h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, p, li, td {
  filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.AlphaImageLoader(src='data:image/png;base64,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',sizingMethod=crop);
  zoom: 1;
}

/* To disable smoothing applied elsewhere, add this class to the element: */
.do-not-smooth {
  filter: none;
}

This was a lifesaver! Thanks!

Works really nicely, thank you.

Thank you sir! Works wonderfully.

Just to add to this...

It seems that sometimes you can not disable smoothing on a child element using filter:none; if the parent element has smoothing enabled.

The child element will require position:absolute; or position:relative; (an odd requirement) along with filter:progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.AlphaImageLoader(enabled=false) !important; }

References...
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms532969(v=vs.85).aspx
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1768161/how-do-i-reset-or-override-ie-css-filters

Wow! It works. Thank you so much.