How do I fix boxes instead of text in URL bar?
Hi all - running FF40.0.3 on an older laptop running Linux Mint 17.1. Firefox currently has the "blocks instead of text" issue in the URL bar up top unless I have clicked into and am typing in the URL bar....very annoying. The fix, as described everywhere, is to disable gfx.xrender.enabled to false rather than true.
However, doing this merely gives me a blank Firefox window with nothing visible....it's there as my mouse cursor will change as I drag it around the screen to the text i-bar cursor, or the 'Link' pointing finger cursor, but I can't see any of it...
So, if I do the fix for one, it causes the other issue....very frustrating....is there a way to solve this issue?
All Replies (7)
You need to keep the gfx.xrender.enabled pref to its default true in current Firefox releases.
You can edit the prefs.js file and remove the corresponding line or create a user.js file.
user_pref("gfx.xrender.enabled", true);
~/.mozilla/firefox/
Hi, yes, I already re-enabled it so my windows are no longer blank, but as disabling gift.xrender was only way I found to fix the black blocks instead of text issue with the URL, now that is happening again...is there any alternative way to solve that...?
This is an old problem. I notice there are two related open bugs and need fixed:
- 1005501 – Solid coloured rectangles/bars/boxes instead of text in address/location bar
- 1004167 – loss of subpixel antialiasing of address bar text
I don't understand the latter discussion well enough to say whether there is a workaround -- i.e., some way to stop font anti-aliasing in the URL bar.
Regarding using Bugzilla, see:
You can try to update to Firefox 41 to see if that helps.
You can find the full version of the current Firefox release (41.0) in all languages and all operating systems here:
This bug is fixed for Firefox 41:
- Bug 1004167 - loss of subpixel antialiasing of address bar text
Firefox 41 did not help - the issue is still there, sadly :(
I am still getting this issue on Firefox 41 running on Linux Mint 17.1 despite the supposed fix....any suggestions on how to solve this issue? It's highly irritating!
You can try a different Linux theme instead of the dark theme that shows in your screenshot.
Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions (Firefox menu button/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem.
- Switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox menu button/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance
- Do NOT click the Reset button on the Safe Mode start window
- https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Safe+Mode
- https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Troubleshooting+extensions+and+themes
Does it has effect if you increase the global zoom (layout.css.devPixelsPerPx)?
You can look at this extension to adjust the font size in the user interface.
- Theme Font & Size Changer: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/theme-font-size-changer/
You can set a global Zoom that affects both the user interface and web pages (this modifies the layout.css.devPixelsPerPx pref). You can do this via the Options/Preferences of the extension (about:addons or the Tools menu).