Search Support

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

No Little Images on Google Images

All of a sudden, starting a few days ago, when Google Images showed the results of a search, it no longer displayed little pictures with them.

Here are some additional facts:

(1) The missing pictures are still there; you just can't see them. By that, I mean that if you use the mouse to hover over where the picture really is, the cursor changes its form to let you know that it is now over something clickable. And, indeed, if you click there, the program opens a window with the image in question in it.

(2) As far as I can tell, this is happening only with Google Images. For example, YouTube is still correctly displaying the little images for its suggested videos.

(3) I first encountered this behavior on my XP machine, so I thought it might be an XP-related problem. But then I went to my newer machine and discovered that exactly the same thing was happening under Windows 10.

(4) Then I thought it might be a Google Images problem. But then I went to Google Images using other browsers, on both my old machine and my new one, and Google Images worked perfectly normally with those two browsers.

(5) So that meant that it must be some sort of Firefox problem. I waited for it to be fixed by Mozilla, but it wasn't. Then I searched both the Web and the Mozilla "knowledge base" to see what other people were saying about this problem. There wasn't a word about it in either place.

(6) Therefore, I can only conclude that it is a My House problem. But even that doesn't seem to me to make any sense. Here's why:

  • (a) My two computers are running totally different versions of Firefox -- 52.9.0 (32-bit) "ESR" on the old machine [Mozilla won't let anybody running XP have a more recent version], and 80.0.1 (64-bit) on the new one.
  • (b) The machines cannot talk to each other. (They are not networked.)
  • (c) One might guess that some update arrived at both machines and that, regardless of operating systems, that update doesn't handle Google Images properly. But here are three problems with that theory:
    • (i) The Firefox application on the old machine receives no updates any more. The folks at Mozilla have been clear about that. (And it's confirmed by looking at the creation and modification dates on the files in its directory.)
    • (ii) On the new machine, Firefox tells me when it has an update that it wants to install. It had not done so shortly before this new behavior arose.
    • (iii) If the latest, updated version of Firefox 80.0.1 (the version on my new machine) suddenly cannot handle Google Images if the program is being run under Windows 10, I wouldn't be the only person who had been hit by this problem: there would be some comments about it on the Web or in the "knowledge base"

I am totally flummoxed. I've tried clearing the cache, turning off popup-blocking, opening Firefox in its Safe Mode, etc. Nothing helps.

edited for formatting -Andrew

All of a sudden, starting a few days ago, when Google Images showed the results of a search, it no longer displayed little pictures with them. Here are some additional facts: (1) The missing pictures are still there; you just can't see them. By that, I mean that if you use the mouse to hover over where the picture really is, the cursor changes its form to let you know that it is now over something clickable. And, indeed, if you click there, the program opens a window with the image in question in it. (2) As far as I can tell, this is happening only with Google Images. For example, YouTube is still correctly displaying the little images for its suggested videos. (3) I first encountered this behavior on my XP machine, so I thought it might be an '''XP-related problem'''. But then I went to my newer machine and discovered that exactly the same thing was happening under Windows 10. (4) Then I thought it might be a '''Google Images problem'''. But then I went to Google Images using other browsers, on both my old machine and my new one, and Google Images worked perfectly normally with those two browsers. (5) So that meant that it must be some sort of '''Firefox problem'''. I waited for it to be fixed by Mozilla, but it wasn't. Then I searched both the Web and the Mozilla "knowledge base" to see what other people were saying about this problem. There wasn't a word about it in either place. (6) Therefore, I can only conclude that it is a '''My House problem'''. But even that doesn't seem to me to make any sense. Here's why: * (a) My two computers are running totally different versions of Firefox -- 52.9.0 (32-bit) "ESR" on the old machine [Mozilla won't let anybody running XP have a more recent version], and 80.0.1 (64-bit) on the new one. * (b) The machines cannot talk to each other. (They are not networked.) *(c) One might guess that some update arrived at both machines and that, regardless of operating systems, that update doesn't handle Google Images properly. But here are three problems with that theory: **(i) The Firefox application on the old machine receives no updates any more. The folks at Mozilla have been clear about that. (And it's confirmed by looking at the creation and modification dates on the files in its directory.) **(ii) On the new machine, Firefox tells me when it has an update that it wants to install. It had not done so shortly before this new behavior arose. **(iii) If the latest, updated version of Firefox 80.0.1 (the version on my new machine) suddenly cannot handle Google Images if the program is being run under Windows 10, I wouldn't be the only person who had been hit by this problem: there would be some comments about it on the Web or in the "knowledge base" I am totally flummoxed. I've tried clearing the cache, turning off popup-blocking, opening Firefox in its Safe Mode, etc. Nothing helps. ''edited for formatting -Andrew''

Andrew மூலமாக திருத்தப்பட்டது

தீர்வு தேர்ந்தெடுக்கப்பட்டது

icarp1 said

But if these add-ons can give me a nice color scheme that doesn't interfere with Google Images (or with your own personal home page, on which I can see the clever background only if I don't set my preferences to override Web sites' colors), how come I can't do the same thing with my my own color scheme?

There is a big difference between telling Firefox to throw away all the color and background settings in a page and use a highly simplified palette (the built-in option), and using an add-on to inject specific new text and background colors into the page's own styles.

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (17)

Hi icarp1, I'm not sure why the thumbnail images on Google search results are not appearing on your Firefox. There is something a little unusual about them, and that is that they use data URIs -- images encoded as strings of text -- rather than image file URLs, at least for me. I wonder whether data URIs are blocked on your Firefox for some reason, and, if so, how?

If you check the "shield" icon at the left end of the address bar, is it purplish, indicating something in the page is being blocked? If so, try turning that off and see whether it makes any difference. More info: Enhanced Tracking Protection in Firefox for desktop.

Nope, the shield is not purplish. And it doesn't even exist on my XP machine.

Thanks for trying.

Could you try:

New Profile Test

This takes about 3 minutes, plus the time to test your problem site(s). You can focus on your newer Firefox, as I can't remember exactly how this page worked in Firefox 52.

Inside Firefox, type or paste about:profiles in the address bar and press Enter/Return to load it.

Click the "Create a New Profile" button, then click Next. Assign a name like Sept2020, ignore the option to relocate the profile folder, and click the Finish button.

Firefox will have switched your default profile to the new one, so find your current profile and click its Set as Default Profile button to avoid surprises later.

Scroll down to the the profile and click its Launch profile in new browser button.

Firefox should open a new window that looks like a brand new, uncustomized installation. (Your existing Firefox window(s) should not be affected.) Please ignore any tabs enticing you to connect to a Sync account or to activate extensions found on your system so we can get a clean test.

Do the problem site(s) work any better in the new profile?

When you are done with the experiment, you can close the extra window without affecting your regular Firefox profile. (Sept2020 will remain available for future testing.)

YES! Google Images now works normally. (I had intended to do this new-profile test earlier, but I was too lazy, so I posted my request for help instead. Thank you for pushing me into doing it.)

So what does this tell us? It looks to me like the following: .....One of the settings in my Profile was changed, .....on BOTH computers, .....without my doing anything to change it, .....in such a way as to stop Google Images from displaying its images correctly.

That's pretty weird, isn't it? But that's OK, if only you can tell me how to figure out HOW my Profiles were changed, so that I can now change them back.

Thanks!

Thank you for testing. The problem is, off the top of my head, I can't think of what setting would be relevant. (It's possible it was a setting changed a long time ago that only recently developed the adverse side effect.)

You might check the new profile again after the following events:

(1) Immediately, after first run and exit, in case Firefox a setting based on Firefox's analysis of your system is causing the problem.

(2) After your next regular system shutdown and restart, in case some security/privacy/utility software (or less desirable software) is modifying browser setting at startup.

I've now tried both of those things. Google Images continues to work properly with the new profile, both after exiting and restarting Firefox and after shutting down the machine and then starting it again.

What next? I guess I could try changing one setting at a time -- if it was possible to run what we used to call a diff, to learn which settings were different in the two profiles. (That could take about a century on the XP machine, which has at least a gazillion bookmarks, each with its own internal settings -- what size window to start in, etc. We wouldn't have to worry about all of them, however, but only the bookmarks that exist on both machines, and the W10 machine, being new, has only about half a gazillion.)

If you have a text file comparison tool (like WinMerge) you can compare the prefs.js file from each of the two profile folders. That should show what has been customized in about:config, for example. Many of these are measurements, timestamps, printer configs, and other things that aren't relevant, but there could be something useful in there.

Note: the about:profiles page will have a button to open the "Root directory" for each of your profiles, which is where you'll find prefs.js.

Note: by default, Windows hides the .js file extension. To set Windows not to hide file extensions, see: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/how-to-show-file-extensions-in-windows/

What do you see if you right-click such empty space and check this element in the Inspector ?

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

You can also check the Network Monitor.

Make sure you haven't enabled a High Contrast theme in the Windows/Mac Accessibility settings.

Make sure you allow pages to choose their own colors.

  • Options/Preferences -> General: Fonts & Colors -> Colors: "Override the colors specified by the page with my selections above"

Try "Never" if the default "Only with High Contrast themes" isn't working.

Well, you've hit on the answer -- but it's not really acceptable.

For 20 years, I've set my own background color and not let Web pages override it -- because those bright white pages hurt my eyes. Until last week, that never was a problem. Now, all of a sudden, it is. If I reset my preferences to allow pages to override my choice of background color, BINGO -- all the little pictures in Google Images are suddenly visible again. And my eyes hurt!

So thank you very, VERY much for figuring out what was going on. And now tell me whether you can think of a way around it. If we can't come up with one, I will just go back to using my own background color, and I'll open Chrome whenever I want to use Google Images.

But THANKS! You came up withe the answer when many other people (not only on Mozilla Support) couldn't.

As you can see in this thread, somebody else has come up with an explanation of what has happened -- I suppose because something changed at Firefox or Google, without my doing anything.

But as wonderful as it is to know what has happened, I now need to know whether there is any way of getting around it. As I explained to that person, "For 20 years, I've set my own background color and not let Web pages override it -- because those bright white pages hurt my eyes. Until last week, that never was a problem. Now, all of a sudden, it is.... If we can't come up with [a workaround], I will just go back to using my own background color, and I'll open Chrome whenever I want to use Google Images."

You may be able to use an add-on to modify only the background colors of pages so that everything else still works.

For example, I have a very slightly off-white background on the html element, behind the body element, by using this rule in the Stylus extension:

  @media not print {
    html:not(.blacklist):not(.private) {
      background-color: #fcfcfc !important;
    }
  }

But that is global and there's no convenient way to turn it off for particular sites, so an add-on would probably suit your needs better.

Those look a little scary. For example, the third one, which would seem to allow me to re-create exactly the color scheme that I have now but presumably without the Google Images problem ("Modify existing or create new color schemes", Change any colour you want"), comes with this warning: "Please use additional extensions in order to replace default New Tab page - extensions cannot style it. Also extensions don't work on New Tab page, Firefox Add-ons store and all Firefox system pages due to security concerns." In general, I try to avoid adding little things like this to my machine: you never know what's going to interfere with, or be interfered with by, what else; and when you have a problem, they just add to the places where you have to go excavating to try to figure out what is causing it.

But if these add-ons can give me a nice color scheme that doesn't interfere with Google Images (or with your own personal home page, on which I can see the clever background only if I don't set my preferences to override Web sites' colors), how come I can't do the same thing with my my own color scheme?

தீர்வு தேர்ந்தெடுக்கப்பட்டது

icarp1 said

But if these add-ons can give me a nice color scheme that doesn't interfere with Google Images (or with your own personal home page, on which I can see the clever background only if I don't set my preferences to override Web sites' colors), how come I can't do the same thing with my my own color scheme?

There is a big difference between telling Firefox to throw away all the color and background settings in a page and use a highly simplified palette (the built-in option), and using an add-on to inject specific new text and background colors into the page's own styles.

Well, I guess I'll just stick with my Chrome/Edge workaround. It enables me to avoid bright-white screens, get quickly to Google Images, and stay away from mysterious add-ons that might complicate my life.

Thanks a million for all your help. You've been terrific.

Ira

If you get some free time to experiment, let me know. There is an add-on free option similar to the one I use (but applied using an optional userContent.css file instead of an add-on). To avoid messing up your regular settings, we can use a test profile for the experiments.