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Bad font rendering

  • 11 replies
  • 4 have this problem
  • 14 views
  • Last reply by madebym

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Font rendering is really bad since version 32. Especially on smaller sizes, jagged edges, parts of the letters are missing. If I downgrade to v31 everything is fine. Also, the same thing on a friend's computer.

I even tried the developers edition, nothing changed. I was hoping that it would be fixed by now as the current version is 36, but the problem persists.

I've been using firefox since 2004 and I really don't want to switch to Chrome/other browser, but viewing websites is a pain now. Especially since Firefox never had any problems with fonts, Chrome for example had very bad font rendering for Windows before.

I am uploading two images, the first is from an awwwards winning website, look at the font rendering, really bad.

Font rendering is really bad since version 32. Especially on smaller sizes, jagged edges, parts of the letters are missing. If I downgrade to v31 everything is fine. Also, the same thing on a friend's computer. I even tried the developers edition, nothing changed. I was hoping that it would be fixed by now as the current version is 36, but the problem persists. I've been using firefox since 2004 and I really don't want to switch to Chrome/other browser, but viewing websites is a pain now. Especially since Firefox never had any problems with fonts, Chrome for example had very bad font rendering for Windows before. I am uploading two images, the first is from an awwwards winning website, look at the font rendering, really bad.
Attached screenshots

All Replies (11)

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hello, could you go to the firefox menu ≡ > help ? > troubleshooting information, copy the contents of that page and paste them here into a reply on the forum? this might give us a clue what is going on...

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You can check if ClearType is enabled system wide for all programs to make other programs like Firefox use it.

Win7:

  • Control Panel > Personalization > Window Color and Appearance > Fonts > "Adjust ClearType text"

You can try to disable OMTC and leave hardware acceleration in Firefox enabled.

You can try to disable hardware acceleration in Firefox.

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

You need to close and restart Firefox after toggling this setting.

You can do a font test to see if you can identify corrupted font(s) or can find a font that looks better.

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@cor-el Tried all of the above, nothing helped. Don't forget that versions prior to 32 have no issues, and I haven't changed any Win/Firefox properties on my laptop in that time span.

@philipp Here is the log, it is not in English if that changes anything. Could it have something with my laptop using dual graphic card? I see that log says that the second card is disabled, but I am 100% sure that once in Firefox it switches to Radeon card, because until I enabled it when I bought the laptop, the CSS3 animations were choppy and laggy on built in card.

Osnove aplikacije


Naziv: Firefox Inačica: 36.0.4 User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; rv:36.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/36.0 Više procesni prozori: 0/1

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ID izvještaja: bp-10e0bbc5-9452-4f8b-b630-300bf2150322 Poslano: Prije 45 minute

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Naziv: colorPicker Inačica: 3.0 Omogućeno: true ID: colorPicker@colorPicker

Naziv: ColorZilla Inačica: 2.8 Omogućeno: true ID: {6AC85730-7D0F-4de0-B3FA-21142DD85326}

Naziv: DownThemAll! Inačica: 2.0.18 Omogućeno: true ID: {DDC359D1-844A-42a7-9AA1-88A850A938A8}

Naziv: Firebug Inačica: 2.0.8 Omogućeno: true ID: firebug@software.joehewitt.com

Naziv: FireShot Inačica: 0.98.68 Omogućeno: true ID: {0b457cAA-602d-484a-8fe7-c1d894a011ba}

Naziv: Rainbow Inačica: 1.6 Omogućeno: true ID: rainbow@colors.org

Naziv: Simple Locale Switcher Inačica: 0.8.5 Omogućeno: true ID: simplels@nohamelin

Naziv: Web Developer Inačica: 1.2.5 Omogućeno: true ID: {c45c406e-ab73-11d8-be73-000a95be3b12}

Naziv: QuickMark Inačica: 1.2.6 Omogućeno: false ID: jid0-QT2VXewB9xzbRlyapSJjA4ebwoU@jetpack

Naziv: Screengrab Inačica: 0.96.3 Omogućeno: false ID: {02450954-cdd9-410f-b1da-db804e18c671}

Grafika


ClearType parametri: Gamma: 2200 Pixel Structure: R ClearType Level: 100 Enhanced Contrast: 50 Datum upravljačkog programa: 4-17-2013 DirectWrite omogućen: false (6.1.7601.18245) GPU #2 aktivan: false ID proizvođača: 0x8086 ID uređaja: 0x0166 Inačica upravljačkog programa: 9.17.10.3114 Opis adaptera: Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000 Prozori ubrzani GPU-om: 0/1 Basic (OMTC) RAM adaptera: Unknown Subsys ID: 380017aa Upravljački programi adaptera: igdumd32 igd10umd32 igd10umd32 WebGL renderer: Google Inc. -- ANGLE (Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000 Direct3D9Ex vs_3_0 ps_3_0) windowLayerManagerRemote: true AzureCanvasBackend: skia AzureContentBackend: cairo AzureFallbackCanvasBackend: cairo AzureSkiaAccelerated: 0

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accessibility.typeaheadfind.flashBar: 0 browser.cache.disk.capacity: 358400 browser.cache.disk.smart_size_cached_value: 358400 browser.cache.disk.smart_size.first_run: false browser.cache.disk.smart_size.use_old_max: false browser.cache.frecency_experiment: 2 browser.places.smartBookmarksVersion: 7 browser.sessionstore.upgradeBackup.latestBuildID: 20150320202338 browser.startup.homepage_override.buildID: 20150320202338 browser.startup.homepage_override.mstone: 36.0.4 dom.mozApps.used: true extensions.lastAppVersion: 36.0.4 font.internaluseonly.changed: true gfx.direct3d.last_used_feature_level_idx: 0 media.gmp-gmpopenh264.lastUpdate: 1423681583 media.gmp-gmpopenh264.version: 1.3 media.gmp-manager.lastCheck: 1426969198 network.cookie.prefsMigrated: true places.database.lastMaintenance: 1426969197 places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages: 78194 plugin.disable_full_page_plugin_for_types: application/pdf plugin.importedState: true print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_bgcolor: false print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_bgimages: false print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_colorspace: print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_command: print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_downloadfonts: false print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_duplex: 1515870810 print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_edge_bottom: 0 print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_edge_left: 0 print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_edge_right: 0 print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_edge_top: 0 print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_evenpages: true print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_footercenter: print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_footerleft: &PT print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_footerright: &D print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_headercenter: print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_headerleft: &T print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_headerright: &U print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_in_color: true print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_margin_bottom: 0.5 print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_margin_left: 0.5 print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_margin_right: 0.5 print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_margin_top: 0.5 print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_oddpages: true print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_orientation: 0 print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_page_delay: 50 print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_paper_data: 9 print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_paper_height: 11.00 print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_paper_name: print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_paper_size_type: 0 print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_paper_size_unit: 1 print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_paper_width: 8.00 print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_plex_name: print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_resolution: 1515870810 print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_resolution_name: print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_reversed: false print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_scaling: 1.00 print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_shrink_to_fit: true print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_to_file: false print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_unwriteable_margin_bottom: 0 print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_unwriteable_margin_left: 0 print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_unwriteable_margin_right: 0 print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_unwriteable_margin_top: 0 privacy.cpd.offlineApps: true privacy.cpd.siteSettings: true privacy.sanitize.migrateFx3Prefs: true privacy.sanitize.timeSpan: 0 storage.vacuum.last.index: 1 storage.vacuum.last.places.sqlite: 1426602419

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thank you, yes i was mainly interested in the graphics section... i'd recommend to start by updating your intel graphics driver and see if this can improve the situation - this should be the right link for your configuration: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/24592/Intel-HD-Graphics-Driver-for-Windows-7-8-8-1-32-bit

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Updating drivers didn't help. Lenovo doesn't allow installing drivers other than their own modified. So I installed that-nothing, then I did a manual install of the latest drivers from Intel website, bypassing the Lenovo not allowing to install policy, also didn't happen.

This is not my primary computer, so it is not much of a deal, but I do use it from often and I am really accustomed to firefox.

I can try to get a log from a friend's computer, normal desktop PC without dual cards, also the same issue. I could even get a third log from another friend, also desktop PC.

One thing in common is that we all have AMD graphic cards.

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Here is the log from another computer. Same thing, bad font rendering after v32.

Osnove aplikacije


Naziv: Firefox Inačica: 36.0.4 User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; rv:36.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/36.0 Više procesni prozori: 0/1

Izvještaji o rušenju za proteklih 3 dana


Svi izvještaji o rušenju

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Grafika


Datum upravljačkog programa: 4-24-2009 Direct2D omogućen: Blokirano za inačicu upravljačnog programa vaše grafičke kartice. Pokušajte nadograditi upravljački program grafičke kartice na inačicu 9.6 ili noviju. DirectWrite omogućen: false (6.1.7600.16385) GPU #2 aktivan: false ID proizvođača: 0x1002 ID uređaja: 0x71c2 Inačica upravljačkog programa: 8.56.1.15 Opis adaptera: Radeon X1600 Series (Microsoft Corporation - WDDM) Prozori ubrzani GPU-om: 0/1 Basic (OMTC) Blokirano za inačicu upravljačnog programa vaše grafičke kartice. Pokušajte nadograditi upravljački program grafičke kartice na inačicu 9.6 ili noviju. RAM adaptera: Unknown Subsys ID: 0850174b Upravljački programi adaptera: atiumdag atiumdva atitmmxx WebGL renderer: Blokirano za inačicu upravljačnog programa vaše grafičke kartice. Pokušajte nadograditi upravljački program grafičke kartice na inačicu 9.6 ili noviju. windowLayerManagerRemote: true AzureCanvasBackend: skia AzureContentBackend: cairo AzureFallbackCanvasBackend: cairo AzureSkiaAccelerated: 0

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browser.cache.disk.capacity: 358400 browser.cache.disk.smart_size.first_run: false browser.cache.disk.smart_size.use_old_max: false browser.cache.frecency_experiment: 3 browser.places.smartBookmarksVersion: 7 browser.sessionstore.upgradeBackup.latestBuildID: 20150320202338 browser.startup.homepage: https://www.google.hr/ browser.startup.homepage_override.buildID: 20150320202338 browser.startup.homepage_override.mstone: 36.0.4 dom.mozApps.used: true extensions.lastAppVersion: 36.0.4 font.internaluseonly.changed: true media.gmp-gmpopenh264.lastUpdate: 1423320282 media.gmp-gmpopenh264.version: 1.3 media.gmp-manager.lastCheck: 1427293993 network.cookie.prefsMigrated: true places.database.lastMaintenance: 1427293992 places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages: 53676 plugin.disable_full_page_plugin_for_types: application/pdf plugin.importedState: true plugin.state.npwpidetector: 0 privacy.sanitize.migrateFx3Prefs: true storage.vacuum.last.index: 1 storage.vacuum.last.places.sqlite: 1425842569

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There DEFINITELY IS a recent problem with Firefox font rendering, and that the other replies to the original problem report DON'T address. It impacted me on a website I use several times daily (for over a year - so I'm familiar with font appearance AND when the problem suddenly occurred after a Firefox Update). The site I first noticed the problem on is Titan TV's channel grid (see below for URL and how to duplicate the font rendering problem - AND how well a workaround works). After more than a year of several-times-daily use of this site, Firefox suddenly could no longer render my default "Arial" font legibly (on close inspection on several other sites, it was clear the Firefox/Arial problem was 'everywhere' - NOT SITE SPECIFIC. But, I found a workaround that BOTH confirmed that Firefox now has a font rendering problem that it did NOT previously have - AND there WAS a font that renders cleanly as a WORKAROUND.

Firefox menu > click "Tools" > click "Options" > click "Content" tab > in "Fonts & Colors" drop down box, you can TRY OTHER FONTS, which I did; and a workaround was found!

Originally, my chosen font was "Arial", which Firefox suddenly could NOT render properly! Firefox actually had numerous problems rendering Arial properly, for some unexplained reason:

After years of daily use of TitanTV's channel grid, I WAS DISMAYED THAT FIREFOX FONT RENDERING SUDDENLY BECAME VERY POOR:

   "Arial" (18 point AND other sizes) 
     * Font edges suddenly became jagged/ragged
     * The horizontal bar in the middle of lower case "e",
           and others, DISAPPEARED (was no longer visible)
     * The space between letters became inconsistent
     * Other faults
I then noticed problems on other pages, even with other font display sizes. ARIAL WAS NOW A MESS!

I tried MANY different fonts, and found differing results, plus fonts I didn't like. But when I switched to "Calibri", Firefox rendered it BEAUTIFULLY; clear, sharp, no complaints. (I am using 18 point font size, by the way). When I switched back to Arial, the Arial problems returned, even AFTER FF updated through several more versions, to v36+. Several times switching back-and-forth between Arial, to Calibri, to Arial, to Calibri confirmed that Firefox was no longer rendering Arial correctly, but WAS rendering Calibri perfectly.

I hope this helps you.

Further, I hope this helps the Firefox community FIX the BUG that DEFINITELY and RECENTLY DID crop up in Firefox regarding font rendering!

HOW TO DEMONSTRATE THE PROBLEM AND WORKAROUND:

  • Click "Site Preferences" at top of page.
  • Set the following Preferences:
* Default Gride Duration:
      "6 Hours"
* Grid Font Size:
      "Normal" (for Arial)
* Programming Grid Options...
        'Check' each of the options below:
     "Use Full Screen Width"
     "Allow Cell Text to Wrap"
     "Use Fixed Height Grid Cells"

  • Click "Save Changes" at bottom
  • Return to TV Listings Grid

When I switched to "Calibri" with the Firefox "Options" dialog / "Content" tab (as detailed above), ALL font renderering was, and is still, perfect! (By the way, on Titan TV, I prefered changing the "Site Preferences"/"Grid Font Size" to "Large" for "Calibri" font).

R. Schneider
rschneider<at>engineer<.>com

Modified by rschneider

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Note that you may have a corrupted Arial font if you have such issues. You can right-click on a web page and select "Inspect Element" to open the Inspector (Firefox/Tools > Web Developer). You can check the font(s) used for selected text in the Font tab in the right pane of the Inspector.

You can try to reinstall the Arial font to see if that helps.

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@cor-el @philipp

I get it that it is not much of an issue for you guys, since this doesn't affect that many people, but you must admit that the problem is here.

Anyway, I rolled back to Firefox 31 now, and of course everything is fine. I can live with an older version for some time or use some other browser on my laptop, but this is something on Mozilla's end, since it is working fine in 31 and prior.

I won't bother you any more, I will only provide four more images. Two are for one navigation bar, in Firefox 31 and Firefox 36 on same laptop.

The other two are screenshots of Fira Sans, also in two different versions on same laptop, taken in time span of 5 minutes while I installed Firefox 31. Images are enlarged to 200%, that is why the 31 image doesn't look crisp as it should, but I enlarged on purpose so that you can see the 36 version from up close. The font size is at 120px, so now imagine how it looks on 15px.

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any difference when you change the system's cleartype settings? you could also try to tweak some settings with the help of this addon: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/anti-aliasing-tuner/

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Everything fine with new Firefox 37 !!! Hopefully it will stay that way :)