I fully understand why Internet Explorer 7 uses clear type. Some people’s eyes work better with ClearType. It is simply an accessibility nightmare in my humble opinion. Actually, the problem is not in the ClearType – which works better on some displays than others – but it is in the Internet Explorer ‘Advanced Options’ dialog. If you’re a glutton for punishment take a glance at it [click on the screenshot below for a larger version].

As a designer please use consistent text to give users the simplicity of vocabulary.  If all of the options use enable or disable rather than both, this will help.  Worse is the ClearType option which says, “Use…”  that’s neither enable or disable and it makes the scanning of the text even more frustrating because its even more words your brain has to parse as you scan over the text.  If you design interfaces – please consider being consistent.  I have some software I need to update to take this into account, but please – all new software should be written with greatest usability in mind, and all older software should really be updated.

The Advanced Options Tab in Internet Explorer 7