Hello,


I’m relatively new to ConTeXt (version 2024.05.31, LMTX, standalone) and really enjoy learning it so far, but I have one little problem with the appearance of horizontal bars in math mode.

It seems the way ConTeXt displayed horizontal extensible bars in math mode some time ago (as used in \frac, \sqrt, \overbar, ...) was similar to the way LaTeX (PDFLaTeX and LuaLaTeX) and Plain TeX handled this, but it has changed since then. Instead of one bar there are now multiple characters attached to each other.

This makes it look more consistent with the font, but unfortunately it doesn’t display well in any PDF viewer I’ve tried (on Linux, so I’ve not tried Adobe Acrobat Reader). The bars look dotted, I guess it’s due to anti-aliasing (the dots disappear when anti-aliasing is disabled, but then of course everything looks pixelated). Two screenshots are attached (different zoom levels in PDF viewer) so that you know what I’m talking about.

Source:
\setuppapersize[S3]
\starttext
\startformula \sqrt{a^2 + b^2} = \frac{1000 \cdot c}{1000} \stopformula
\stoptext

Is there a way to switch to the old bars for documents viewed mainly on screens, or is there any other way to improve their appearance? I couldn’t find any documentation on this, so I would be very thankful if somebody here could help out.


Best,
Ralph