Some websites display variable text in Latin when using FF 3.6. Why?
Help! Some mainstream websites I'm not able to read/use anymore since going to 3.6 because the variable text is displayed in Latin. Static parts of their pages display just fine. Also in fill-in fields, when I type it is displayed to me in Latin, but the actual value of my keystrokes is being communicated to the website accurately in English since searches come back w/the info I searched on. This is becoming more and more of a problem. An example of a web site that this consistently happens to me on is overstock.com How can I fix this? It's really starting to work on my last nerve.
All Replies (7)
Can you attach a screenshot?
Use a compressed image type like PNG or JPG to save the screenshot and make sure that you do not exceed the maximum file size (1 MB).
Thanks for reading and responding to my problem! I've got the screenshot on my clipboard... and I know how to paste it into a Word doc... but I don't know how to save the shot as an image all by itself w/out a Word doc around it. Sorry for the trouble. Any ideas? I'm running Windows 2000 XP 5.1-ish
When you have the image in the clipboard try the following.
- Start > run > mspaint
- Then in paint edit > paste
Modified by Kevin
Thanks! That worked like a charm! Here are two screen shots of two sites where the variable text is displayed in what I think is Latin (based on the character name in 'Character Map) . On the home page of Overstock, the search box text is displayed in Latin, but when I drilled-down on an item, it displayed the text of the item title in Latin and then displayed the text in the search box above in English, as it's supposed to look. The more I use a site like this, the more the Latin becomes pervasive until I can no longer use the site to accomplish anything anymore. Also, earlier this eve. before I saw the replies, I checked the overstock site again, and instead of displaying the variable texts in Latin, it didn't display them at all - it was just white-space where there should have been text. Hope this all helps. Thanks for your time!
Does this happen if you start Firefox in its safe mode?
- exit Firefox then
- start > all programs > Mozilla Firefox > Mozilla Firefox (safe-mode)
Detailed directions at http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Safe+Mode
not sure if you were able to see the screen shots that you asked for when I finally sent them... sent reply to 'kbrosnan' who told me how to save my screen shots. Thanks for any light you can shed on this matter. BTW, I still encounter the problem you see in the screenshots even when running FF in safe mode. However, when I went to fetch the safe mode to start, I stumbled across an older version of FF. After my safe mode test of FF 3.6.xx I closed FF, then launched from the old version (properties of the file say that it's v1.8 but the 'About' window said that it was v2.x.x In this version, I don't experience the variable text display issues. Thoughts?
I was already assuming that you meant this issue, but decided to ask for a screenshot as conformation to avoid confusion.
This issue can be caused by an old bitmap version of the Helvetica or Geneva font or (bitmap) fonts that Firefox can't display in that size.
Firefox can't display some old bitmap fonts in a larger size and displays gibberish instead.
You can test that by zooming out (View > Zoom > Zoom Out, Ctrl -) to make the text smaller.
Uninstall (remove) all variants of that not working font to make Firefox use another font or see if you can find a True type version that doesn't show the problem.
There have also been fonts with a Chinese name reported that identify themselves as Helvetica, so check that as well (such a font usually appears at the bottom of the list.).