Why is Firefox is rendering some text strangely?

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cor-el

59579 articles

It could that the font that Firefox uses is corrupted or missing.
It can also be caused by using the wrong encoding: View > Character Encoding.
You can try another encoding to test that.
The site www.superdeluxe.com uses UTF-8 for me.

You can check the default fonts settings here: Tools > Options > Content : Fonts & Colors: Advanced
You can check those fonts in Control Panel > Fonts.

Patrick Havens
Firefox user

I'm getting same issue even in b5.... have since b3.

NOTE: Even thhis current message I'm typing looks to be gibberish. But I know from experience it'll be fine, and that if copy pasted will paste fine.

jscher2000

3119 articles

In addition to checking your default character encoding, check your Autodetect setting on the View menu. For best results, set Autodetect to (Off).

Patrick Havens
Firefox user

Its been set Autodetect off and Encoding both as Western and Unicode.

I've been dealing with this (rolled back to .13 for general use) for a while.

Its weird that its random text on normal pages, and so far consistantly textareas.

Tariq Bamadhaj
Firefox user

I seem to be having the same problem too. FF3 is the one that gives me gibberish fonts on www.funambol.com but FF2 (up to v14) works fine for me.

Like you, my Autodetect is also set to Off.

In fact, I did a default settings for both (FF2 and FF3, at separate times that is) and both times, FF2 works fine and FF3 messes up. Any other ideas?

Janine
Firefox user

Having the same problem since upgrading to version 3....Autodetect = Off and Encoding has been set to both Western and UTI with no success for either. This problem (if it persists and no patch made available) will be the end of my using Firefox altogether!

Francois
Firefox user

I'm having the same problem.

Using Mac 10.5.2. Auto detect is set to off. Changing the character encoding doesn't make a difference. Changing the default font changes the look of the gibberish, but not to anything legible. I checked font book and nothing appears to be corrupted.

There are several threads asking about this problem and the advice is all the same: a corrupted font file. I doubt it. Sites like Wikipedia worked fine just before I upgraded to version 3. Suddenly, no such luck. Why should the problem be with the font file?

Howard W
Firefox user

Firefox 2 prints pages fine. Firefox 3 prints garbage intermittently when printing from web sites (depending upon the font on the web site)
Even text comes out screwy. Example, printing an auction page from ebay or receipt from pay pal is screwed up. Removed FF 3, reinstalled FF 2 and everything OK. Any patches available for FF3 yet? Do the developers know of this bug?

Francois
Firefox user

This isn't the best solution, but it worked for me. After reading this article (posted elsewhere in the support forum): http://www.creativetechs.com/iq/garbled_fonts_troubleshooting_guide.html , I switched my default font to Helvetica. Suddenly the gibberish was rendering as Helvetica Fractions just like the troubleshooting guide described. Then I could delete Helvetica Fractions from my fonts. Now the sites I was having trouble with render in Helvetica and everything can be read. Like I said, not a great solution, but it works.

Javier Prieto
Firefox user

WORKAROUND FOUND:

After having experienced the same problems with some sites since beta3, I've discovered a workaround.

Instead of directly using 'Print...' from the 'File' menu, go to 'Print Preview' and then print by clicking on the 'Print...' button at the top of the page.

Now I'm shure this is a bug and not a encoding configuration problem.

ssalo

9 articles

I tried Javier's workaround. It did not help.

Dave
Firefox user

Yeah. Come on firefox! what's the big idea?!!!

Javier Prieto
Firefox user

WORKAROUND UPDATE:

Still not knowing why, but the workaround I proposed, as others have reproted, works only in some documents or in some parts of a document:

Instead of directly using 'Print...' from the 'File' menu, go to 'Print Preview' and then print by clicking on the 'Print...' button at the top of the page.

Currently, this is my only chance to getting most of the documents printed and readable.

Kait
Firefox user

Not sure if I'm posting in the right place (I'm on a mac) but as soon as I installed FF3, wikipedia displayed as a garbled mess of fractions.
A couple of other sites had this too but only in certain areas (the entire wiki page was fractions though!).
I looked at some forums on the net, someone suggested removing Helvetica Fractions from my fonts - I tried this, no help.
This worked:
I went into Firefox Preferences, clicked the 'Content' tab, clicked 'Advanced' in the fonts and colours area, then in the sans serif dropdown I chose 'Arial' (it was previously Helvetica) and now life is back to normal!

Wol
Firefox user

Mine was Times New Roman - I wonder if there's any common factor in Helvetica and Times that causes the problem?

Martin
Firefox user

I have problems with those thing too. I cannot reduce or enlarge fonts on some pages, that option "allow page to use their own..." does not work, manual setting for default fonts doesnt work, and i cannot change fonts. What's up with Firefox, i must use my old enemy now, IE, since i must change fonts depending of need.

Marlz
Firefox user

I had the same problem with the printing turning out in very strange texts. I have a fix but it makes the printing very slow. When you select Print and your dialogue box comes up for your printer - Select Properties (top right) and then Select tab Extras and check the box Use Printer Fonts. This will print all web pages but as I said VERY slowly. But it works for now.

Micah
Firefox user

PROBLEM FIXED:

I think this should solve your problem. I struggled with the same problem with FF 3 on my Mac. It was a horrible mess. Here's how I fixed it. Go to Preference/Content/Fonts & Colors/Advanced and use the following settings:

Proportional: Serif
Serif: Times
Sans-serif: Arial
Monospace: Courier

Check the box that says "Allow pages to choose their own fonts, instead of my selections above"

That's it! Your problems should be over.

Todd
Firefox user

I have certain pages where the text shows up as fractions? I've followed the advice of some postings and no luck.

tomyjohn
Firefox user

Certain text on sites comes up as garbled gibberish. For example, the headline on ESPN shows up as N (dot) (pound sign)(question mark) (apostrophe) (dash) (small dot) (bigger dot), with the parenthesis meaning that it shows up as the item itself not the words.

This also happens on other sites, such as www.superdeluxe.com where all of the text comes up like this. How can I get the text to show up normally?
Extensions installed:

Adblock plus, allinone sidebar, better gmail 2, flashgot, googlepreview, greasemonkey, image zoom, PDF download, stumbleupon, taboo.

All of these addons I have used before in firefox 3, and there was no problem.