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How to actually fix HiDPI?

  • 22 replies
  • 35 have this problem
  • 3 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

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It's now Firefox 23 and the HiDPI mess is still going strong!

Does anyone know how to actually fix it and return Firefox to looking the way it did up to version 21 or is going back to 21 the only viable solution?

I did try the whole messing around with layout.css.devPixelsPerPx but it doesn't work - interface text gets too small and blurred, icons on the other hand are still big and blurred, and website content is HUGE. In addition to this Firefox feels slower.

It's now Firefox 23 and the HiDPI mess is still going strong! Does anyone know how to actually fix it and return Firefox to looking the way it did up to version 21 or is going back to 21 the only viable solution? I did try the whole messing around with layout.css.devPixelsPerPx but it doesn't work - interface text gets too small and blurred, icons on the other hand are still big and blurred, and website content is HUGE. In addition to this Firefox feels slower.

All Replies (20)

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Back to 21 again for me.

Call me when you 24 is released and I'll give it another go. Or I'll switch to Chrome if it gets too far ahead in terms of security updates.

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refer to

or make your DPI 100% in the windows settings.

Modified by kobe

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Why isn't there an option "Turn off hidpi-detection?" Is it so hard to make it work?

I want my Firefox (now 23) looks exactly the same it was in FF21. I want to turn dpi-detection off permanently now and for all.

Im not going to change my windows settings or adjust text, images, toolbar, add more addons to get options, pages, pop-ups or whatever look like a normal browser should look.

Please say it, if you are not going to fix this. I can always start to use another browser and stop waiting to get the fix which is not coming...

Modified by mreni

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"or make your DPI 100% in the windows settings. "

Perhaps you should inform Microsoft, tell them to correct their Operating System so that Firefox will work...

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Can you test something for me, see if enabling this pref (you have to create it).

and see if it makes firefox "work"

Thanks in advance!

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I've been through the about:config nonsense and installing add-ons with Firefox 22. I have no intention of wasting my time with it again for Firefox 23. There should be no need to increase the complexity, and memory footprint of a browser to get it working as it did two iterations ago. Firefox 21 works just fine. Chrome works just fine.

I suggest that the developers simply add an option in FF24 to turn the HiDPI scaling off in the options menu for people who do not want it.

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Good idea, write a bug about that becuase you will get no developer attention here, but you will get some there.

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I've already done that once when Firefox 22 was released. Should I do it again?

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Link to the bug please? Dont write another bug on the same thing.

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I didn't post it as a bug, I used this Feedback page also mentioned in your link, to make my point regarding the scaling issue and how to resolve it.

https://input.mozilla.org/en-US/feedback/#sad

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Maybe, write a bug in the link in my last post, you will likely get developer attention.

Make sure you are not writing a duplicate, if there is a similar bug, vote for it to be in firefox.

Modified by kobe

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Found an existing bug here...

Doesn't look as if anyone is too interesting in fixing it. Reading between the lines, they think everything is supposed to work that way.

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=851268

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It is supposed to work that way (if the dpi is bigger firefox is bigger) , write your own bug.

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Firefox is ahead of other Windows browsers with HiDPI support.
High DPI support in IE11
Chrome gets high-resolution screen support on Windows, too

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Just because Firefox is the first to do this and other browsers will follow is irrelevant to the point that some users (such as myself) have NO interest in having HiDPI enabled. Is it that hard to allow users to disable this feature in future releases so that ALL users can be happy? Forcing users to simply "deal" with something they don't like because it's the new thing on the rise is inconsiderate and by no means makes me want to further support Firefox.

I don't know how to "write a bug" but if anyone could and bring this to the attention of Firefox I would be VERY grateful!

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The only cure I have found for Firefox issues is to delete the app and download version 19. This is very annoying but effective ... as long as you continue to click delete on the Update to Versions 20,21,22,23, 24 Beta x-10x. How many Beta, unfinished versions and "security updates" can one app possibly have? Is it an infinite number or not? I loathe Chrome and Safari but I am just about to make a switch. And yes, I did join just to make this post out of sheer frustration. This was the best browser I had ever seen, and now it is a mess. Shame really. The irony is I clicked on this forum while searching to see if Firefox issues had been resolved as I have been very busy of late and have just been deleting the update popups.

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Hi asu_chic, Firefox is updated every 6 weeks, and in between only if there is a "showstopper" bug. Unless you are on the beta track, it probably averages about 1 update a month.

If you are downgrading to avoid having your content area scaled in accordance with your Windows DPI setting, you do not need to drop back all the way to Firefox 19. Each version you go back opens more security holes (they are publicly disclosed on the security flaws page).

Other than having to adapt the DPI settings, what else is annoying you about Firefox 23?

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Thank you for your reply jscher2000. I run a photography studio with 3 macs and 1 PC, and Firefox is and has been on all units. I downgraded to 19.2 when the "this is so embarrassing we can't find your tabs" issue continued on for months. Have you tried using multiple computers with this going on all day? Not a good thing. I went on line at one point, 21.xxx to see if this was resolved. It was not and I downgraded and have not looked back other than to delete annoying upgrade notifications. Honestly, it's a browser. It should not need to be babysat nor should it need to be constantly fixed. Firefox was a great browser at one point and the upgrades did not constantly break something that needed yet another bug fix. From version 20 until I downgraded, the browser would be slow to respond to screen changes, slow to respond to searches, or just plain hang. Improvements are not improvements if they fail to work, and change for change's sake is a waste. Playing let's make the browser work is not on my to do list. I am only saying this to give one person's opinion for what it is or is not worth.

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Hi asu_chic, the annoying "this is embarrassing" problem was a MacOSX specific bug in Firefox 20. Apparently when you closed all pages before using Quit (or quitting by shutting down the system), Firefox crashed and showed that crash recovery screen at your next startup. The workaround was to Quit Firefox with at least one page still open. There also was a settings change you could make (turn off automatic post-crash session restore). Anyway, I think that bug has been fixed by now.

Modified by jscher2000 - Support Volunteer

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I'm still waiting for a reply as to whether they plan on including an option for this.

I've been a Firefox user since it was called Phoenix, Phoenix 0.1 to be precise, and before that I was a Mozilla user. I'm visually disabled, and in a way that can't be fixed simply with glasses (as unfortunate as that is). So I've spent years fine-tuning Firefox to be suitable for me, including a highly customised userChrome.css, about:config settings, and very specific zoom levels for the places I visit on the Internet.

I'm glad I backed up my ./Roaming/Mozilla folder because on upgrading to 22, all that was gone! Destroyed! Years of work to allow a disabled person to browse the Internet... gone because people want to be hipsters about HiDPI and can't even provide an option to turn it off.

I've spent years as a Mozilla fan. I've created extensions, I've stuck with Firefox exclusively, and I even have a Firefox plush! It makes me sad that I can't upgrade my browser.

I've just been languish at version 21, which I still am, wondering whether Mozilla will decide to stop treating visually disabled people like dirt with the next update. I can't help but wonder what I did to them, and why they hate me so much. See, how hard would it be to have a 'Disable DPI detection:' checkbox? Would that be so impossible?

Such a setting would allow me to upgrade, whilst keeping my userChrome.css, my about:config settings, and my page zoom levels.

I can't help but feel discriminated against a little bit, here. You'd think that being able to toggle HiDPI would be a basic accessibility setting.

So I just want to hear it from Mozilla.

Tell me that you don't care about disabled people, you don't care about accessibility, and you won't ever provide that option. Then I can move on and pick a browser more suited to my needs, rather than hanging on with a browser with known exploits in the hopes that I'll eventually, one day be able to toggle DPI detection off, that one day I can upgrade.

So let me know, one way or the other. Please?

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