"Upside down h" vs "x" in some browsers


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Hi, I have a browser/font issue that I haven't had any luck sorting.  Wondering if anyone here has any insights.

 

Here is one example of a page that includes an "x" to close something.

 

https://coinbase.com/buys/

 

Normally when you visit this page (assuming you aren't signed in already), you see something like this at the top:

 

coinbase-x.png

 

The little "x" on the right side isn't a graphic, it is actually the character "?", or Unicode U+00D7, the multiplication sign.

 

Now, on my machine, this is what I actually get:

 

coinbase-h.png

 

Instead of the "x" I get a character resembling an upside down "h".

 

This isn't specific to Coinbase, I picked this URL just because it is easy to see what I'm talking about.  Across the Internet I have h's instead of x's for close buttons.

 

I'm using Chrome on Windows 8.1 (64-bit), but I also have the issue in IE 11 on the same machine.  Firefox works correctly (shows an "x").  IE 11 on a different Windows 8.1 machine shows correctly (shows an "x").  So there is something funny with my machine, but it is not restricted to a single browser (otherwise I'd just start a new browser profile and call it a day).  It's not a new issue, but it's been present for at least a year, and I'm just now getting fed up enough to try to figure it out.

 

I'm wondering if I have a font installed that is becoming preferred for these odd characters for some reason...  But I don't know how to check that.

 

I did some Googling and haven't come up with anything.  Though, this is a difficult issue to find a good search term for.

 

Ideas?  Insights?  Anything?  :-P

 

Thanks!

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Actually, leave it to me to wonder about this forever and then solve it immediately after making a post.

 

Turns out it depended on the font being used on the site.  Helvetica is common and it is what is being used to render this character improperly.

 

I checked my working Windows 8.1 install and it doesn't even have the Helvetica font installed.  Which means Helvetica isn't included with Windows as standard, I suppose.  I must have picked up a bad copy (from a third-party app or maybe I installed it myself ages ago) which is causing this to happen.

 

Thanks anyways.  Off to figure out what to do now that I know what the problem is.  :-)

 

[Edit]

Deleting the Helvetica font from my system solved the problem.  Now I will see if I can find a different version that works properly, otherwise I'll just deal without it.

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[Edit]

Deleting the Helvetica font from my system solved the problem.  Now I will see if I can find a different version that works properly, otherwise I'll just deal without it.

 

Helvetica is a Macintosh system font, but not a Windows system font. Arial is the nearest equivalent.

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I'm guessing what's happened is that you got a bad copy of Helvetica, and the site in question is using an icon font (Which is a huge hack so yeah), and instead of using an assigned character for the "x" is using a random Unicode character which they assume is unassigned but in reality is actually being provided by your bad copy of Helvetica.

So yeah, the site shouldn't be using an icon font but at the same time your copy of Helvetica shouldn't be providing characters in the same range, so easiest solution is to just nuke your copy of Helvetica.

 

Helvetica is a Macintosh system font, but not a Windows system font. Arial is the nearest equivalent.

That's correct but also not, Arial is Microsofts copy of Helvetica, but that's it. You can install both on either OS.

Edit: heh, I missed the part where you already checked what character it was, I'm so used to sites doing it wrong that when they do it right it throws me :laugh:

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