Avatar for Username

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

Some webpages display text as vertical seperators and tabs

  • 7 replies
  • 2 have this problem
  • 14 views
  • Last reply by mozbius

mozbius
mozbius

I have this issue with Firefox where for some reason when I access some random websites or sometime even in my emails the text displayed on the website is replaced with vertical separators and tabs

http://s29.postimg.org/r59ug5r1z/Firefox_Messed_Display.jpg

but if I highlight the garbled text and then do a copy, I'll successfully paste the original/propper text.

Right away I thought that a plugin/addon must have been the culprit. So I reset Firefox (got Firefox back to stock) and right away tried the same webpage (plain Firefox here) and got the same result!


So then I tried to run in Safe Mode and all of a sudden everything looked ok. Then I tried standard mode (still plain vanilla) and yet got the problem again. So I guess something is wrong with the default features implemented in Firefox. Since then I've reinstalled some of the plugins while Googling for a solution. Any idea of how to fix this?

I have this issue with Firefox where for some reason when I access some random websites or sometime even in my emails the text displayed on the website is replaced with vertical separators and tabs http://s29.postimg.org/r59ug5r1z/Firefox_Messed_Display.jpg but if I highlight the garbled text and then do a copy, I'll successfully paste the original/propper text. Right away I thought that a plugin/addon must have been the culprit. So I reset Firefox (got Firefox back to stock) and right away tried the same webpage (plain Firefox here) and got the same result! So then I tried to run in Safe Mode and all of a sudden everything looked ok. Then I tried standard mode (still plain vanilla) and yet got the problem again. So I guess something is wrong with the default features implemented in Firefox. Since then I've reinstalled some of the plugins while Googling for a solution. Any idea of how to fix this?

Modified by mozbius

Chosen solution

Try to disable Direct2D by setting the gfx.direct2d.disabled pref to true on the about:config page and leave hardware acceleration otherwise enabled.

You can try to create a new Boolean pref on the about:config page and set its value to true

That way you still have the benefit from hardware acceleration, but may not suffer from rendering issues.

If that didn't help then you can try to disable hardware acceleration in Firefox (you need to close and restart Firefox).

  • Tools > Options > Advanced > General > Browsing: "Use hardware acceleration when available"
Read this answer in context 👍 1

All Replies (7)

cor-el
cor-el
  • Top 25 Contributor
  • Moderator

Chosen Solution

Try to disable Direct2D by setting the gfx.direct2d.disabled pref to true on the about:config page and leave hardware acceleration otherwise enabled.

You can try to create a new Boolean pref on the about:config page and set its value to true

That way you still have the benefit from hardware acceleration, but may not suffer from rendering issues.

If that didn't help then you can try to disable hardware acceleration in Firefox (you need to close and restart Firefox).

  • Tools > Options > Advanced > General > Browsing: "Use hardware acceleration when available"
mozbius
mozbius Question owner

Tried the config change in about and that didn't help. Then I've applied the second suggestion and now everything is good!!! Thank you.

But now the text is very difficult to read...

http://s24.postimg.org/wbt9lx90l/Difficult_To_Read.jpg

Any idea of how I can get this fixed? Otherwise I think I'll have to downgrade my Firefox both at work and at home to display all webpages properly.

Modified by mozbius

cor-el
cor-el
  • Top 25 Contributor
  • Moderator

Is hardware acceleration still enabled?

Is clear type enabled and configured properly?

mozbius
mozbius Question owner

Hardware acceleration is disabled as instructed (that is what made text to actually show up instead of separators, enabling/disabling the about:config setting didn't change anything but I still left it as is as with value TRUE).

Clear type has never been touched but just in case I've verified an everything looks good there.

Even with increased font size in Firefox, text is there but still hard to read. Mind you this is not happening on all webpages.

My test/reference webpage that I use is : http://docs.ckeditor.com/#!/api/CKEDITOR.dialog.definition.fileButton

Also as previously mentioned starting Firefox in safe mode allows me to see the webpage properly (with proper text and readable font) which kind of tells me that this isn't a ClearType issue.

mozbius
mozbius Question owner

Ok nevermind I believe the problem is with the website's actual fonts (it is still hard to read in safe mode). Can you confirm at your end?

cor-el
cor-el
  • Top 25 Contributor
  • Moderator

Is this about the EXO font?

You can right-click text and use Inspect Element to open the Inspector and go to the Font tab in the right pane.

mozbius
mozbius Question owner

Hmmm doesn't look like an issue with the EXO font.. I get the same display problem if I go to :

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/search/?q=mail&platform=WINNT&appver=28.0

as seen here: http://s28.postimg.org/b8gt3picd/Helvetica_Neue_Ultra_Light_problem.jpg

Perhaps my problem is caused by some messed up "Helvetica Neue UltraLight" font library on my PC... I'll try to get the font checked on my PC to see if that helps and then let you know. Thank you for the support.

UPDATE: Aha! Nailed it! I've deleted the Helvetica Neue font from Windows and restarted Firefox and now everything is all good as seen here:

http://s1.postimg.org/t68tuc2db/Fixed_Helvetica_Issue.jpg

Thank you of your time and putting me on the right track! Really appreciated.

Modified by mozbius