1. In a computer system including a processing unit, a hardware graphics unit, and a display device for displaying an image, the hardware graphics unit capable of responding to function calls received via an application program interface, the display device having a plurality of pixels, at least some of the plurality of pixels including a plurality of pixel sub-components each of a different color, a method for rendering sub-component-oriented characters within the displayed image using the hardware graphics unit, the method comprising the following: an act of generating a bit-map representation of a sub-component-oriented character by using a sample to generate each pixel sub-component; and an act of rendering the sub-component-oriented character on the display device by making one or more function calls to the hardware graphics unit using the application program interface.