Possible to make fonts in FF4 look less horrible?

[Indoobidubly]

I just uninstalled FF 3.6.15 and installed FF 4 (final) on Windows 7. The first thing I noticed when I loaded up a site was show bad the fonts look.

I've read that this is due to hardware acceleration. Can anyone tell me how to turn this off so the fonts can look normal again?

Thanks.

[fusi0n]

I would also like to know the answer to this. I want to drop Chrome and return to FireFox. However, the fonts are horrible.

[octavianus]

on firefox, enter in the address bar "about:config"

search for "gfx.font_rendering.directwrite.enabled"

double click on it to change the value to "false"

restart firefox

[Chasethebase Reporter]

You can either use the above, or just tweak your ClearType settings. If you do a search in Windows 7 via the Start Menu for 'ClearType' it should give the option to adjust it to your preference, this will have an effect on the font appearance within both Firefox 4 and Internet Explorer 9, but will require you to restart the browser before taking effect I've noticed.

I think the same search can be completed in Windows Vista, while in Windows XP searching the web should find one of those PowerToys I think.

[Wakers]

You can either use the above, or just tweak your ClearType settings. If you do a search in Windows 7 via the Start Menu for 'ClearType' it should give the option to adjust it to your preference, this will have an effect on the font appearance within both Firefox 4 and Internet Explorer 9, but will require you to restart the browser before taking effect I've noticed.

I think the same search can be completed in Windows Vista, while in Windows XP searching the web should find one of those PowerToys I think.

So i have to sacrifice quality of fonts everywhere else in the OS just so they look better in Firefox?

I think not!

Chrome also has hardware acceleration, but the fonts look fine. They should just fix it.

[Chasethebase Reporter]

So i have to sacrifice quality of fonts everywhere else in the OS just so they look better in Firefox?

I think not!

Chrome also has hardware acceleration, but the fonts look fine. They should just fix it.

Not at all, in most cases it has barely any effect, maybe even a positive effect on the fonts around the OS. After tweaking my ClearType settings everything looked better universally.

And it isn't hardware acceleration, it's DirectWrite.

[+Xinok Subscriber²]

I just saw this in the Firefox Add-ons RSS feed:

Anti-Aliasing Tuner - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/anti-aliasing-tuner/

[yowanvista]

Its actually an issue in Direct Write that also affects IE9 to some extent. MS needs to fix that, not Mozilla

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

I just saw this in the Firefox Add-ons RSS feed:

Anti-Aliasing Tuner - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/anti-aliasing-tuner/

That can make things look better because regardless of what company needs to fix what the font rendering by default is terrible.

[phot0nic]

on firefox, enter in the address bar "about:config"

search for "gfx.font_rendering.directwrite.enabled"

double click on it to change the value to "false"

restart firefox

That doesn't work. The key you're looking for is "gfx.direct2d.disabled", which you need to set to "true".

Also, I've tried the Windows ClearType tool and the Firefox extension mentioned. Neither of these work well either. They can make the fonts in Firefox look "different", but not necessarily better. The best you can do with these tools is make the fonts blurry, which is a different problem in itself. Additionally, the Windows ClearType tool will screw up the fonts in all other applications, making them noticeably worse.

The only real fix at the moment is to disable Direct2D in Firefox. Unfortunately, this will degrade performance in the browser. I don't care who is responsible for the bug, but I really hope someone will either fix it or create a work-around that allows us to keep Direct2D enabled.

[+DonC Subscriber²]

It just takes a short while for your brain to adjust to the changes in ClearType. Give it a few days.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

That doesn't work. The key you're looking for is "gfx.direct2d.disabled", which you need to set to "true".

Also, I've tried the Windows ClearType tool and the Firefox extension mentioned. Neither of these work well either. They can make the fonts in Firefox look "different", but not necessarily better. The best you can do with these tools is make the fonts blurry, which is a different problem in itself. Additionally, the Windows ClearType tool will screw up the fonts in all other applications, making them noticeably worse.

The only real fix at the moment is to disable Direct2D in Firefox. Unfortunately, this will degrade performance in the browser. I don't care who is responsible for the bug, but I really hope someone will either fix it or create a work-around that allows us to keep Direct2D enabled.

Yeah it's ridiculous how much better things look with that set to true.

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

...

The only real fix at the moment is to disable Direct2D in Firefox. Unfortunately, this will degrade performance in the browser. I don't care who is responsible for the bug, but I really hope someone will either fix it or create a work-around that allows us to keep Direct2D enabled.

It's not a bug, it's how it's designed to render text (if it looked like GDI, that'd be a bug/limitation)

[phot0nic]

It's not a bug, it's how it's designed to render text (if it looked like GDI, that'd be a bug/limitation)

No, what I'm seeing is definitely a bug. I refuse to believe that anyone in sober mind would actually design the font rendering to look like this. I can understand how some people would prefer blurry fonts like in OSX vs. sharp fonts like in Windows, but all of my text is faded and splotchy.

[honey01]

The key you're looking for is "gfx.direct2d.disabled", which you need to set to "true".

this worked for me

tyvm :D

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

No, what I'm seeing is definitely a bug. I refuse to believe that anyone in sober mind would actually design the font rendering to look like this. I can understand how some people would prefer blurry fonts like in OSX vs. sharp fonts like in Windows, but all of my text is faded and splotchy.

Show a screenshot then, you might actually be experiencing a bug.

[Wakers]

Its actually an issue in Direct Write that also affects IE9 to some extent. MS needs to fix that, not Mozilla

Sadly, this is the attitude that Mozilla seem to be taking. For business purposes I have the following browsers installed & up to date on the computer;

Opera, IE, Firefox, Minefield, Chrome, Chromium, Maxthon.

Firefox (and minefield), IE, Chrome (and Chromium) are the only ones with hardware acceleration at the moment (I believe).

Want to know which are the only two that fonts look poor in? Firefox and Minefield.

It's not an MS problem, its a Mozilla problem, and the sooner they get their heads out of the sand and realise that, the better for them it will be.

[Sixdays]

That doesn't work. The key you're looking for is "gfx.direct2d.disabled", which you need to set to "true".

[...]

Thank you so much! I got a headache looking at the terrible font display in FF...

No, what I'm seeing is definitely a bug. I refuse to believe that anyone in sober mind would actually design the font rendering to look like this. I can understand how some people would prefer blurry fonts like in OSX vs. sharp fonts like in Windows, but all of my text is faded and splotchy.

I agree. In comparison to Chrome or other text displayed in Windows it looks absolutely terrible. It's actually hard to focus your eyes and read long articles this way. All the people I know who use FF4 complained about this.

[Amarok]

I honestly can't even see the difference. :|

[Subject Delta]

I don't see why Microsoft and Mozilla had to design their browsers this way. Chrome's 2D acceleration works just as well and it doesn't make fonts look like crap

[Jen Smith]

Show a screenshot then, you might actually be experiencing a bug.

I'm curious to see this myself. Not calling BS or anything, but just not seeing anything wrong with the font rendering that some people are talking about. Everything's enabled, and it looks pretty good here.. renders a little differently maybe, but at least on my system it looks good and is comfortable to read.

Went and pulled up a couple of pages in FF4, the Chromium nightly from 2-3 days ago and IE9.. fonts render a little differently across the three but all look good.

[hagjohn]

I think my issue with the fonts is a minefield x64 issue. Everything was working fine until a minefield update, now FF4 and Minefield font's look like crap. All other browsers are fine.

[Nitrius]

Fonts doesn't look good here either, heard its a DirectWrite bug, there are a few threads about it over at mozillaZine, one is this: http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=2060933

And so far only "fix" seems to be turning hardware acceleration off, which i don't really like as i want to use that feature, but with the current look of fonts with that on, i have to.

[Guest mattburles]

this is odd.. the fonts looked horrible when i tried the betas and rc's and now that im on the final they seem normal. i havent do any windows updates either.

[Subject Delta]

this is odd.. the fonts looked horrible when i tried the betas and rc's and now that im on the final they seem normal. i havent do any windows updates either.

It's been improved, but there is still a difference

Top is FF4, bottom Chromium 12, both with hardware acceleration enabled