I've tried everything to correct the way both IE and Firefox render text on certain websites but have had no luck. I've checked the following:

- ClearType is on
- Fonts are installed on my machine

Any other tips? See attached screenshot of problem. Example taken from hellyeahdude.com. Thanks in advance.

Got Helvetica Neue or normal Helvetica installed?

Some of those fonts (type I'm talking about, not that specific font) can render like crap.

Thanks for the reply. I have both it appears. See attached.

It's the font itself. That website uses this font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;

Helvetica Neue (and lots of other fonts) use a different kind of font smoothing that makes it look like that.

That's really odd. Have you made sure that the default font is correct on your web browsers? Probably not the issue, but it could be it I suppose.

Hmm...interesting. Is there another version I could try? Perhaps mine is corrupt somehow?


Both browsers have Times New Roman as their default. I did try and set the default to Helvetica but no change.

It's not a problem with the font, it's a problem with the renderer.

Basically, Windows renders fonts with PostScript badly (so PostScript fonts and certain OpenType fonts), the only real solution is to find a OpenType version that uses TrueType style font information (Adobe should offer that)

Or just remove those fonts (so the browser falls back to Arial or such)

Thanks for the help. I'm afraid to delete them for fear of not getting them back. Anyone know where I could get them in OpenType form for free?

Where did the current copy come from?

Unless you find a copy bundled with something (e.g. Frutiger Linotype comes with MS Reader) you're probably out of luck (and even if you find it, you need a OpenType font with TrueType outlines, not one with PostScript outlines)

Now, I know old HP printer software came with TrueType versions of Helvetica (doubt it came with Neue), so if you can find that software it might work.