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Font incorrectly rendered in Firefox, but looks OK in private mode

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Over the past day or two, I've seen firefox incorrectly render fonts on a couple of websites. So far, I've only noticed two websites effected: quotientapp.com and xero.com (not the actual landing page, but rather the login page and other pages available after login https://login.xero.com/identity/user/login). This problem may extend deeper but these are the only places I've found them.

At first I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me but nope, something definitely not right. No new addons have been installed on my system. I've also deleted all local storage / cookies (via the Inspector) for these sites thinking it must be some caching issue - but no, it's still doing it.

Inspecting the font-family shows the issue (this is from the page https://go.quotientapp.com/sign-in) - have attached the images below of what I see.

I do use uBlock, but it is disengaged on Quotient and Xero (these are work related sites, they show no ads). Other add-ons I have installed include Bitwarden, Dark Reader, Firefox Multi-Account Containers and Reddit enhancement suite. I've ensured all add-ons are up to date as of this posting.

FWIW I do allow all the extensions above (with the exception of Firefox Containers which I don't allow) in private mode.

Any insights on how to get to the bottom of this?

Over the past day or two, I've seen firefox incorrectly render fonts on a couple of websites. So far, I've only noticed two websites effected: quotientapp.com and xero.com (not the actual landing page, but rather the login page and other pages available after login https://login.xero.com/identity/user/login). This problem may extend deeper but these are the only places I've found them. At first I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me but nope, something definitely not right. No new addons have been installed on my system. I've also deleted all local storage / cookies (via the Inspector) for these sites thinking it must be some caching issue - but no, it's still doing it. Inspecting the font-family shows the issue (this is from the page https://go.quotientapp.com/sign-in) - have attached the images below of what I see. I do use uBlock, but it is disengaged on Quotient and Xero (these are work related sites, they show no ads). Other add-ons I have installed include Bitwarden, Dark Reader, Firefox Multi-Account Containers and Reddit enhancement suite. I've ensured all add-ons are up to date as of this posting. FWIW I do allow all the extensions above (with the exception of Firefox Containers which I don't allow) in private mode. Any insights on how to get to the bottom of this?
Attached screenshots

Chosen solution

SamPilgrimsTooth said

But in non-private mode, it shows Helvetica / Nimbus Sans L Bold Condensed (which is incorrect).

Your screenshots show the font-family should prefer Helvetica which is what it is doing. Private windows use Arial as a fallback due to anti-fingerprinting protections reducing the number of visible fonts. If you want to extend this to normal windows, you can enable Strict Tracking Protection.

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All Replies (7)

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You can right-click and select "Inspect" to open the built-in Inspector with this element selected.

You can check in the Rules tab in the right panel in the Inspector what font-family is used for selected text. You can check in the Fonts tab in the right panel in the Inspector what font is actually used because Firefox might be using a different font than specified by the website. If the Fonts tab is hidden, click the down arrow at the right end.

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Thanks for the response -- there is something definitely wrong. The font family for private mode shows "Arial / Arial Bold", i.e. what it should be. But in non-private mode, it shows Helvetica / Nimbus Sans L Bold Condensed (which is incorrect).

Interestingly only these two websites (Xero and Quotient) are impacted.

I went to about:config, where I used the "Restart with all add-ons disabled" option.

I found that everything now works as expected. So, I went back to my profile with the add-ons enabled - I disabled every single one, and restarted Firefox -- the font is still incorrect.

So, in addition to disabling my extensions, exactly what does the "Restart with all add-ons disabled" option do?

There is clearly some issue within my profile - I don't want to reset it just yet as I have a terrible habit of using my history as my bookmarks so I will reserve the "nuclear" option of refreshing firefox as the last resort.

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Could be a case with fonts that are blocked by Enhanced Tracking Protection under Known fingerprinters and Suspected fingerprinters.

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I'm completely out of ideas on this one -- I created a brand new FF profile and it STILL does it!!

What else is there to try? Creating a new firefox profile is the nuclear option right? No firefox "Common" settings are shared between profiles are they?

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Bump -- I have still not managed to resolve this.

Any ideas where these "extra" fonts are coming from? I did a full rebuild of my firefox profile, tried it in a container tab, removed all extensions without success.

It still renders properly in Private mode. Below is a screenshot of the inspector "Font" section on the same page -- left side is Private mode, right side is my normal profile.

Any ideas @cor-el?

Modified by SamPilgrimsTooth

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Chosen Solution

SamPilgrimsTooth said

But in non-private mode, it shows Helvetica / Nimbus Sans L Bold Condensed (which is incorrect).

Your screenshots show the font-family should prefer Helvetica which is what it is doing. Private windows use Arial as a fallback due to anti-fingerprinting protections reducing the number of visible fonts. If you want to extend this to normal windows, you can enable Strict Tracking Protection.

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Thanks Zeroknight, your reply fixed it for me. I changed tracking protection from "Standard" to "Strict".

Perplexing that INCREASING protection to a degree where it warns you that it may break some content "fixes" this?