Anti alias isn't working

When I select the rectangular marquee tool, I am unable to check the anti alias box. It is unavailable to me or "greyed out". My text is quite jagged, and I am thinking it is because of the unavailibility of the anti alias effect. Does anyone have an answer to my problem? Thanks.

My text is quite jagged

You need to reselect your text (using the text tool...if you havent rasterized the layer) and select "crisp" (or similar from "anti-aliasing method" menu).

The reason you dont (no on does) have anti alias option for the rectangular marquee is the rectangular marquee is square/made of straight lines. Anti aliasing only gets rid of jagged edges (the stair step pattern) on curves and diagonal lines.

Thanks a lot rodder.