Mine appear in gray, too; I think that's just the style. Does this problem occur on all pages? (If it only appears on YouTube or other pages with Flash players, it may be related to keystrokes being captured by the plugin.) ---- A standard diagnostic for possible interference by add-ons is to try Firefox's Safe Mode. First, I recommend backing up your Firefox settings in case something goes wrong. See [[Backing up your information]]. (You can copy your entire Firefox profile folder somewhere outside of the Mozilla folder.) Next, restart Firefox in Firefox's Safe Mode ([[Safe Mode]]) using Help > Restart with Add-ons Disabled In the Safe Mode dialog, do not check any boxes, just click "Continue in Safe Mode." If your keyboard shortcuts work correctly, this points to one of your add-ons or custom settings as the problem. Any change?