Anti-Aliasing
A feature of graphics programs which softens the edges of graphic text.
Anti-aliasing partly offsets the square edges inherent to individual pixels when they display. Normal text (HTML text) has aliased or jagged edges giving a stair-step appearance when magnified.
On the negative side, anti-aliasing increases a file size and causes a halo effect with transparent GIFs if not done using the final background color. In most cases, HTML text is still preferred over graphic text because it is more versatile and it is searchable.