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Version 3.6.x of Firefox ignores Windows DPI and font settings.

  • 10 replies
  • 57 have this problem
  • 5 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

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Every time I have tried a version of Firefox 3.6.x, the menu bars shrink to about half of their height. The printing on web pages becomes very tiny. Font sizes that were controlled by the Windows font size chosen in display preferences are no longer being used. I am legally blind and require larger font sizes on menu bars and web pages. I am using "No-Squint" and that works fine for web pages but does nothing for the menu bars. When I upgrade from version 3.5.9 to any version of 3.6.x, I have to readjust all of my No-Squint settings. When I switch back to version 3.5.9, my menu bars, fonts and No-Squint settings are returned to where they were. I would like to keep up with the version upgrades, but feel that control of the viewing has been hijacked. Please return control of the browsers settings to the user.

This happened

Every time Firefox opened

== any version of 3.6.x

Every time I have tried a version of Firefox 3.6.x, the menu bars shrink to about half of their height. The printing on web pages becomes very tiny. Font sizes that were controlled by the Windows font size chosen in display preferences are no longer being used. I am legally blind and require larger font sizes on menu bars and web pages. I am using "No-Squint" and that works fine for web pages but does nothing for the menu bars. When I upgrade from version 3.5.9 to any version of 3.6.x, I have to readjust all of my No-Squint settings. When I switch back to version 3.5.9, my menu bars, fonts and No-Squint settings are returned to where they were. I would like to keep up with the version upgrades, but feel that control of the viewing has been hijacked. Please return control of the browsers settings to the user. == This happened == Every time Firefox opened == any version of 3.6.x

All Replies (10)

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If you close Firefox, then start Firefox in Safe Mode, does the problem still occur? For instructions on starting in Safe Mode, see Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode.

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See Toolbars and page content appear too large after upgrading to Firefox 3

Try to adjust the DPI setting (layout.css.dpi).

Try to set the pref layout.css.devPixelsPerPx to 2 on the about:config page. --- You can also look at a large theme. https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/browse/type:2/cat:67 Large

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Mine is set to -1 so going up to 96 explains a lot. Thanks much for the info, I will give that a shot and try a new upgrade.

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I installed version 3.6.3. I tried the layout.css.dpi change. When I got there, it was still set to -1. I changed it from 96 to -200. These changes had absolutely NO affect on the size of the fonts, icons and height of the menu bars. When I was using version 3.5.9, you could see the change immediately. I guess I will be going back to the older version until they get this fixed.

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I also tried one of the large themes. It looked large on version 3.5.9, but when I did the upgrade to version 3.6.3 it was small again and similar in size to the default theme. I went in to change the layout.css.dpi and there wasn't one. The theme must have taken it away. I created one, but it also did NOTHING. I uninstalled that version and went back to version 3.5.9 so I could read the items on the menu bars. I checked the layout.css.dpi and now there are 2 of them. I changed one of them to default and everything seems to still work OK. Thanks for any help, I hope someone from Mozilla reads these and will hopefully do something to make all parts of the browser easier to see for people that are visually handicapped. I have my windows DPI set to 159% and use custom sizes for menu bars of 36. The 3.6.x versions of Firefox ignore these settings along with the ayout.css.dpi setting originally used in the browser. I will continue to try the newer versions as it is not that difficult to upgrade, uninstall and reinstall the older version.

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Just tried version 3.6.4 of FF and have the same disappointment with visual settings.. Also links in Windows live mail that worked in version 3.5.9, no longer work in version 3.6.4. I once again uninstalled 3.6.4 so I could open this link. I did not try any other links, but a link is a link.

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I upgraded to FF 3.6 as soon as it came out, and I experienced the same problem. FF 3.6 does not recognize the Windows DPI settings. I reported it immediately and lots of other people also did, but the Firefox crew does not seem to care about it.

It is a minor bug, but no programmer has fixed this in half a year. That is pathetic and sad. It really damaged my image of Mozilla. How can they be so unprofessional? With every update I expect the problem gets fixed, but they do not even care, although it affects scores of users.

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right click on blank desktop, click personalization, click display & DPI is there.

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I have two different users on this machine, running Win7 & Firefox 3.6.12. I have checked every image size option I can find in Windows and Firefox and they are the same for both users. Web pages for both users are displayed at the same size. But the font sizes in the Firefox menu and toolbars (including Google toolbar) are different - one is 12% larger than the other. How can this be? Ideally I would like both font sizes to be larger. I have checked in Firefox Safe Mode and the problem persists. tia.

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Try to change the String pref layout.css.devPixelsPerPx and increase the value in 0.1 steps from 1.0 to 2.0 or decrease the value from 1.0 to 0.1 on the about:config page to see if that improves tihngs.

See also http://kb.mozillazine.org/about%3Aconfig